A day after 12 BJP members in Lakshadweep, including the party state secretary, resigned in protest against the sedition case against filmmaker and activist Aisha Sultana, more members of the party in the island quit yesterday (12th June). Among those who resigned yesterday are Syed Mohammed Koya. Andrott Island party district general secretary E.K. Khaleel said, “I quit in protest against the draconian policies introduced by administrator Praful K. Patel who has become a threat to Lakshadweep. These policies, which are undemocratic and anti-people, need to be rejected with contempt.”
An FIR was registered against Aisha under IPC sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration). She was earlier booked by the Kavaratti police in Lakshadweep for making a comment on a television debate that a ‘bio-weapon’ was used against the island. She later clarified that she compared the administrator, Praful K. Patel, to a bio-weapon, and not the government or the country.