Jan Suraksha Bill: Congress calls Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill as 'Black Law', plans to 'burn' its copies in protest

"The Congress’s opposition remains strong, and symbolic burnings of this black law will be carried out in every district of the state,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal.

Mumbai: Days after the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, popularly known as Jan Suraksha Bill, was cleared by the legislature, the Congress is planning a major protest and will symbolically burn the copies of the “black law” in every district of the state.

Charging that new law was created for the benefit of the Government and its favoured industrialists, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal said: “The only beneficiaries of this law will be the government and the/ industrialists who support it --- those who have grabbed land in Dharavi, looted mineral resources in Surjagad (Gadchiroli), and want red-carpet access to the Shaktipeeth corridor are the ones who will benefit”.

Symbolic burnings of "black law"

“This law is draconian inside and out and is meant to suppress the common people. That’s why the Congress Party has opposed it from the very beginning. Despite the ruling party having passed the bill using their majority in the Assembly, the Congress’s opposition remains strong, and symbolic burnings of this black law will be carried out in every district of the state,” said Sapkal, a former MLA.

According to him, the very intent behind the Public Security Act is sinister. 

“Is it Naxalism, to espouse constitutional values, or to spread the thoughts of Shivaji, Shahu, Phule, and Ambedkar? Is it Naxalism to promote the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and Tukdoji Maharaj?,” he said and sought an answer from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. 

“Fadnavis must clarify. If these are Naxalite ideas, then I will continue to express them — and if Fadnavis wants to arrest me for that, he’s welcome to do so, Sapkal challenged. If Fadnavis believes that leftist ideology is poisonous, then we will expose what poison is being spread in RSS shakhas,” he added.