NEW DELHI: Critics have been accusing the Indian government of using law enforcement agencies to selectively target its political foes following the arrest of an opposition politician minutes after his resignation as a state Chief Minister.

Hemant Soren leads one of several opposition parties that have allied to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections this year.

He began Wednesday as the leader of Jharkhand, which with an estimated 40 million people has a bigger population than Canada. By the evening he had stepped down and was in custody for allegedly facilitating an illegal land sale.

Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of local transparency watchdog the Association for Democratic Reforms, said Soren’s guilt or innocence was secondary to his status as an opponent of the ruling party.

“No politician is squeaky clean,” he said.

“But it is evident from what is happening that opposition leaders are being threatened by law enforcement agencies.”

Soren’s detention was the first arrest of a chief minister for more than a decade, but he is only the latest opposition politician to face criminal investigations and charges since Modi won power in 2014.

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by a member of Modi’s party.

His two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament for a time until the verdict was suspended by a higher court, but raised concerns over democratic norms in the country.

Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party — another member of the opposition alliance and chief minister of the capital region Delhi, has repeatedly been summoned by investigators probing alleged corruption in the allocation of liquor licences.

But Mmhonlumo Kikon, a spokes­man for BJP, said that India’s law enforcement agencies worked to their independent mandate.

“BJP does not interfere in any way,” he said.

Selective probes

Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren was detained after a year-long probe during which he maintained his innocence and accused the BJP of using investigators to sideline him.

“I will not bow down,” he said in a Wednesday video message recorded before his arrest. “Truth will prevail.”

Details of the evidence against Soren have yet to emerge.

Local media reports said investigators had raided his official residence earlier this week and seized two luxury cars and more than $40,000 in cash.

India’s main financial investigation agency has ongoing probes against at least four other chief ministers or their families, all of whom belong to the BJP’s political opponents. But other investigations have been dropped against erstwhile rivals who later switched their allegiance to the BJP.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the current chief minister of Assam, was accused by investigators of participating in a lucrative pyramid scam, but has not been interrogated since joining the BJP eight years ago.

Similarly, former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane was accused of money laundering, but has not been summoned for questioning by investigators since merging his party with the BJP in 2019.

‘Misused’ agencies

News organisations and non-profit groups have also found themselves subject to investigations since Modi took office.

Last year tax authorities raided the BBC offices and seized electronic devices after the British broadcaster aired a documentary investigating Modi’s role in 2002 communal riots when he was Gujarat’s chief minister.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2024