New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- As COVID is wrecking down borders, bodies and cells, one wonders what could be the interest of a State to keep its poets, writers, journalists and activists in jail. Peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, poet Varavara Rao (popularly known as VV) and anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam have already tested positive. We don't know the situations of others who remain in the dark, crammed in dock, out of the news. As the State fails to fight the pandemic with its punctured health systems, it perceives the voice of conscience as more dangerous than the virus.
The India government has arrested 82-year-old poet Varavara Rao who remains in prison without trial for two years. Courts has rejected his bail plea on several occasions. But why do...