‘Modi govt's familiar script’: Cong decries NSA detention of Assam activist Pranab Doley after he gets bail

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized Assam's BJP government for detaining land rights activist Pranab Doley under the National Security Act (NSA), calling it a 'blatant misuse of preventive detention laws'.

Doley, convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC), was arrested on July 12 over protests against a proposed luxury hotel near Kaziranga National Park.

He was granted bail by a Golaghat sessions court on July 29, but was detained under the NSA on July 30, a day after the bail order.

Ramesh alleged the resort project was backed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and noted the court had observed that 'criminal law cannot be used to suppress legitimate local anxieties'.

Ramesh accused the Modi government of using 'extraordinary laws' to silence dissent, citing similar NSA use against labour activists in Noida.