Jammu, March 10 AAP leader Manish Sisodia emphasized the need to continue the "fight against dictatorship" on Tuesday, alleging that the Narendra Modi-led government has created a situation where anyone raising their voice against it is being falsely implicated and sent to jail.
Sisodia further demanded that the prime minister clarify how the United States was portraying India before the world as "their colony."
Speaking to reporters during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir after paying obeisance at the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, the former Delhi deputy chief minister said he had come to meet the family of his friend and AAP leader Maharaj Malik in Jammu.
"I am saddened that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a situation has been created in the country where whenever any voice is raised, that person is simply put in jail," he said.
Sisodia, who visited the family of detained AAP MLA Mehraj Malik at his official residence to express his party's support, said that activists and opposition leaders, including Sonam Wangchuk, Maharaj Malik, Arvind Kejriwal, Satyendar Jain, Sanjay Singh and himself, had faced what he described as false cases and fabricated charges.
"This has been made a normal practice in Indian politics. Anyone who raises their voice is accused falsely and sent to jail," the AAP leader alleged but urged people not to lose courage.
"So, I came here today to tell everyone that this is a fight against dictatorship. I told my friends in Jammu that we must not lose courage. Just as in the Delhi cases, the courts exposed the lies of the BJP one by one -- showing that the party lies and that it harasses people for its hunger for power -- the truth will come out in the case of Malik as well," he said.
Taking a dig at the Modi government, he further said, "Imagine someone going to jail for demanding a school or a hospital and then being booked under the National Security Act and declared a threat to national security. History will remember Narendra Modi as a prime minister who never hesitated to bow before the United States, and at the same time, never hesitated to send patriotic people of his own country to jail."
Sisodia also criticised the Centre over rising LPG prices and what he termed a fuel crisis affecting businesses. "Cylinder prices are rising, hotel businesses are suffering losses, jobs are being lost and people involved in import and export are being ruined. This is Narendra Modi's 'gift' to the people of this country," he said.
Lambasting the prime minister for such a situation, he said "If you choose Narendra Modi, this is what will continue. Those who raise their voice for schools and hospitals will go to jail, people will have to buy expensive gas cylinders, businesses will collapse, and the country will suffer from all sides."
On a question regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation that the government was blocking debate on West Asia to protect Modi, the former Delhi minister said the prime minister should clarify how the United States was portraying India before the world.
"We are not a colony of America. Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi won our freedom. India is not America's colony," he added.