Congress Leader’s Arrest Sparks Controversy: Here’s What Happened
Assam Police arrested Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday in a controversial manner. He was taken off an IndiGo flight to Raipur by Delhi Police and detained until Assam Police arrived to arrest him over allegedly derogatory remarks made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Khera was en route to the Chhattisgarh capital for a Congress plenary when this happened.
The Congress and Khera approached the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice DY Chandrachud granted him interim bail and protection from arrest until Tuesday. The court will hear Khera’s plea to combine FIRs against him – one in Assam and two in Uttar Pradesh – on Monday. Later, a Delhi court granted bail to Khera on a bond of ₹30,000.
So, what led to Khera’s arrest? On February 17, at a press conference in Mumbai, Khera referred to the Prime Minister as ‘Narendra Gautamdas Modi’. He later corrected himself after conferring with a colleague. The press conference was to raise Congress’ demands for a parliamentary inquiry into allegations made about the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research.
Khera’s remark led to an outcry from BJP leaders who claimed an insult to Modi. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called Khera a ‘courtier’ and said the remarks showed a Congress ‘full of entitlement and disdain.’ The Congress hit back, with spokesperson Randeep Surjewala questioning whether the Assam leader, on whose instructions the police said they were acting, is ‘God’.
The situation escalated when Khera was asked to de-board IndiGo flight 6E-204 to Raipur shortly before departure. Khera was told of a ‘problem’ with the airline tag on his luggage, but he had no check-in bags. After he exited the plane, he was told that a DCP-rank police officer was en route to arrest him. Khera waited for several minutes before officials from Delhi and Assam Police arrived. Meanwhile, Congress leaders staged a protest on the tarmac of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, and IndiGo was forced to de-board all passengers and re-route others to their destinations via different flights.
As Khera was finally led away by Assam Police, protests on the tarmac increased, and opposition lawmakers from other parties, including Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav and former Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, spoke out in support of the Congress leader.
The BJP hit back at the Congress’ protests, saying they ought not to live under the ‘misconception’ that they are above the law. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Khera and the Congress, saying that there had to be ‘some level of discourse.’ The court said Khera would have to be released by a Delhi magistrate on that day and that he would have interim bail and protection from arrest until after it hears his plea to combine all FIRs.
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