MUMBAI: Opposition Congress and NCP today termed the withdrawal of the controversial sedition circular by Maharashtra government as a victory of the democracy.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the withdrawal of circular was a victory of democratic forces. "Since the BJP came to power, attempts are being made to impose restrictions on individual freedoms. The government's plan is to impose the RSS's ideology in the society. The circular revealed the dictatorial mindset of the BJP government," he said.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the government was forced to withdraw the circular because of the widespread protest. "Democratic forces did not allow the intentions of the state government to succeed," he said. Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that it had withdrawn its controversial circular issued on August 27 to prevent misuse of section 124-A of IPC which deals with sedition.
Advocate General Srihari Aney made the statement during the hearing of two petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the circular. The BJP-led Maharashtra government had last month admitted that the circular -- which had triggered a row for allegedly seeking to invoke sedition charge even for criticising the political establishment -- got distorted in the translation and had promised to bring a revised version.
One of the petitions was filed by the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was himself arrested on charges of sedition earlier. The other one was filed by advocate Narendra Sharma.