Bengaluru: You can’t silence Modi supporters, says Amit Shah

Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party president, Amit Shah, came down heavily on police taking into custody  techies, who raised pro- Modi slogans during Congress  president, Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Manyata tech park in the city on Tuesday.  

"Hugs for tukde tukde gang and arrest of peaceful youth raising pro- Modi slogans. Where are the champions of free speech? Yuvraj of Congress must know that future will follow youth. Stop intimidating youth of India, who have rejected your brand of politics," Mr Shah tweeted.

The state BJP followed with the tweet,   "Democracy in danger, police arrest few techies for raising pro- Modi slogans at Manyata tech park in Bengaluru. This is the real face of democracy in a Congress-JD(S) ruled state."

Senior BJP leader, R. Ashok later lodged a complaint with the Bengaluru police commissioner against the police officers responsible for  rounding up the techies.

“The police officers are acting as supporters of the Congress. This will affect free and fair elections in Karnataka. We request you to suspend all the officers, who arrested the innocent youth. This is undemocratic and a violation of human rights,” he said in the complaint, adding, “The police action  shows that the government is warning citizens that if you support Modi you will be punished. This act of the police is a threat to democracy. The youth did not act contrary to the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections."

Mr Ashok said  the matter would be brought to the attention of the Election Commission too. Meanwhile, the Congress in its counter complaint, called for a thorough investigation into the incident, and KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao, tweeted it was BJP orchestrated.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, however, downplayed the incident, saying the police had not arrested anyone, and had only  picked up the techies for interrogation.