INDIA GOES SWOOP

NEW DELHI : Maharashtra police raided homes of leading intellectuals and rights activists in a  nationwide swoop on Tuesday, arresting several and quizzing some more in a move that their colleagues described as ''undeclared emergency''.

They said the early morning swoop by Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state was a way of diverting attention from recent revelations  that a Hindu militant group was allegedly involved in the murder of a writer Lankesh and other rationalists.

They said the arrest of intellectuals, lawyers, human rights defenders  and writers reflected desperation in the ruling  Baharatiya Janata Party that fears Prime Minister Narendra Modi could lose next year's general  elections.

''The simultaneous arrests are a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic,'' writer Arundhati  Roy said in a statement.

''That lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals are being arrested on ludicrous charges while those who make up lynch mobs and threatens and murders people  in broad daylight roam free, tells us very clearly where India is headed. Murderers are being honored and protected.''

Among those arrested in Delhi was the former head of Peoples Union of Democratic Rights Gautam Navlakha.  He is a regular voice of  Kashmiris  fighting rights abuse.

The World Students Society thanks author Jawed Naqvi.