Congress Charges Assam BJP of Weaponising the National Security Act Against Land‑Rights Activist

On Sunday, the Congress blasted the BJP‑run administration in Assam for what it called a flagrant abuse of the National Security Act (NSA). According to the party, the law was slapped on land‑rights activist Pranab Doley just a day after a district court granted him bail.

Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary for communications, said the move was nothing short of a “blatant misuse” of preventive detention powers – a political overreach designed to choke off democratic dissent. He pointed out that Doley had been arrested for backing villagers who were opposing a proposed five‑star resort on the fringes of the Kaziranga National Park, a project championed by the state’s chief minister.

The locals in Golaghat have been fighting the resort since 2022, insisting that their ancestral lands were being grabbed without consent. In fact, the Sessions Court’s bail order had remarked that when ecological preservation meets indigenous survival, “criminal law cannot be used to suppress legitimate local anxieties.” Yet, according to the Congress, the state invoked the NSA on flimsy grounds – hinting at “suspicious foreign transactions from doubtful sources” – a line the party says mirrors a familiar script from the Modi government.

Ramesh warned that this isn’t an isolated incident. He highlighted a growing pattern of BJP‑led states leaning on extraordinary statutes like the NSA to silence activists, citing recent arrests of labour leaders in Uttar Pradesh as another example. For the Congress, the Assam episode underscores a broader disdain for the rule of law and for the constitutional right to protest.

Supporters of Doley, meanwhile, have taken to social media, demanding his immediate release and calling for a transparent inquiry into the alleged land‑acquisition irregularities. The debate has rekindled an old question in Indian politics: how far can a government go in curbing dissent before it steps over the line into authoritarianism?