Urban Naxals case: MoS Home Kiren Rijiju counters Rahul Gandhi on Maoists, even as various courts loom for the accused. Full details here

Update at 10:37 AM: Supreme Court to hear plea by Romila Thapar and others calling the arrests arbitrary, at 3:45 pm. A battery of senior advocates will represent the petitioners

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Union Home MoS Kiren Rijiju has countered Congress president Rahul Gandhi regarding the country-wide crackdown that was initiated against Maoist sympathisers and activists on Tuesday.

KIREN RIJIJU VERSUS RAHUL GANDHI

Taking to Twitter, Rijiju has raised former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's stand on Maoists, wherein he had declared them to be the No. 1 threat to India's internal security. Accordingly, Rijiju has asked Rahul Gandhi to keep national security above politics.

On Tuesday night, Rahul Gandhi had broken his silence on the day-long raids, detentions and, in the case of Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bharadwaj, the ensuing legal challenges against transit remand. The Congress president tweeted that there was place for only one NGO in India, and that was the RSS.

ACCUSED TO BE PRODUCED, SUPREME COURT TO BE MOVED

Of the five activists who were detained by the Maharashtra Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on Tuesday, three of them, namely Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves are to be produced at a court in Pune on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bharadwaj have been put under house arrest, with the habeas corpus petitions against transit remand for Navlakha to be heard by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday morning, while Sudha Bharadwaj's petition will come up before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a plea that has been filed in the Supreme Court by Romila Thapar and others, that says that the detention is arbitrary, is likely to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of India and may be heard on Thursday.

READ | Urban Naxal Case: What Is The Case About, Who Have Been Detained Following The Police Raids And Why

THE URBAN NAXAL PLOT

The multi-city crackdown had been initiated by the Maharashtra police, with the assistance of other police task forces, early on Tuesday morning, allegedly based on inputs ascertained from the five persons who were arrested from Pune in June in connection with the Bhima Koregaon caste violence that had been triggered early in January and spread to Pune and Mumbai. A letter detailing a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi had allegedly been recovered from the laptop of Rona Wilson, one of the five arrested. Meanwhile, another older letter, purportedly part of correspondence between Maoist leaders, contained a plan to assassinate PM Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP party president Amit Shah. It is these two letters that prompted the action, officials said.

An investigation by Republic TV has also revealed details of a larger conspiracy including an 'Urban Naxals-Maoists' conduit, an arms angle and terrorist link, and sensational details of an ‘end Modi’ plot

EXCLUSIVE | 3 Part Expose On Urban Naxals Points At A Larger Conspiracy. All Details Here

OPPOSITION TO THE CRACKDOWN

Despite this, a number of opposition parties have politicised the matter, while prominent activists and lawyers have opposed the crackdown.

Amnesty India has targeted the government, accusing it of creating an atmosphere of fear:

RJD's Tejashwi Yadav has referred to it Fascism:

The CPI(M) has issued a strong statement against the crackdown:

However, as per police sources, the crackdown is hardly arbitrary, with the accused persons also allegedly trying to recruit students of top universities who can take their ideology forward and participate in an urban naxal revolution.

READ | Six Recent Plots That Expose The Dangerous Urban Naxal Design To Destabilise India