The voice and voice of the people cannot be easily taken away: Prabir Purkayastha
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Manish Sisodia, centre, CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan, (left) and NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha during a seminar on ‘Political persecution by central agencies’ in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday | Photo credit: PTI
People’s sense of their vote, their vote and democracy is not something that can be easily taken away, said journalist and activist Prabir Purkayastha.
He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Political Persecution by Central Agencies’ organized by AKG Center for Research and Studies here on Wednesday.
Mr. Purkayastha said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Center, which uses government agencies to push its agenda, is increasingly alienating itself from the people. Since their struggles against the British in the national movement and even after independence, people have come to understand the value of their rights, including the right to vote. It wasn’t something they would give up without a fight, even if it might take some time.
Mr Purkayastha, the founder of Newsclick, who spent seven months in jail on foreign funding charges, said both the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Money Laundering Prevention Act require a person to prove his innocence. However, most of the cases registered under these did not get anywhere, as their intention was to prevent a person from performing normal activities. So one ended up fighting not only the cases but also the media witch hunt set up by the BJP government.
Referring to his imprisonment during the 1975 Emergency, he said his generation faced their Emergency. Did this generation have to face this emergency to reassert the values of democracy, equality and freedom, he asked.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the entire country is forced to live in the shadow of the Enforcement Directorate. The ED, Mr. Sisodia said, does not enforce any law. The only one it served was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Central agencies like ED or CBI, he said, were being used to suppress the opposition. Not only political opponents were persecuted, but also businessmen. ED machines were used to milk entrepreneurs, he said.
Mr. Sisodia further alleged that the Congress was hand in hand with the BJP in abusing EDs across the country. “Congress registers baseless cases and BJP acts on them,” he said, referring to his “painful” arrest on the complaint of a Congress MP.
He also spoke of repeated pressure to join the BJP so that the cases against him would disappear. However, the Court ruled that the case could not be considered for trial.
Expressing his support for the CPI(M) and what Kerala was “facing”, Mr Sisodia said he wanted to warn people that the BJP was trying to come to power here with the help of the Election Commission of India and the ED. If that happens, it will undo all that has been done for the people of the state, as happened in Delhi, he said.
He also expressed gratitude for the support he was getting from Kerala for his “fight against ED and BJP atrocities”.
CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan also spoke.
Published – 14 Oct 2026 21:31 IST