The Political Toolkit

The arrest of the 22-year-old climate change activist on charges of sedition has created global headlines and sparked protests. What exactly is this toolkit and what was her role in it?

- Neeraj Mishra

AT a time when there should be serious discussions on farm laws and welfare measures, the Indian government is obsessed with an obscure “toolkit” and the arrest of a 22-year-old climate change activist. If television news and Delhi police are to be believed, this toolkit is responsible for everything—from “stoking fires of Khalistan to the invasion of Red Fort to lowering the dignity of Indian state”. The farmers’ agitation which has claimed 200 lives is being scrubbed out of public memory.

In a well-configured strategy, the Delhi police latched on to the toolkit attached to Greta Thunberg’s tweet early this month and started investigations. It zeroed down on toolkit makers—Disha Ravi of Bengaluru, Nikita Jacob, a Bom bay-based lawyer, and Shantanu Muluk from Beed in Maharashtra. The connection: Fridays For Future, a global foundation started by Thunberg of which Ravi and others run the India chapter.

In hindsight, it was actually very easy to zero down on Ravi. Last year, she and her organisation Fridays for Future India were served notice under the UAPA and IT Act. They had been accused of running a terror outfit. The notice was withdrawn citing “inadvertent error” the same reason that the Supreme Court has given in the Raj deep Sardesai contempt case. But it was clear that the organisation was on target and as soon as Thunberg’s tweet became a topic of conversation, there was immense room to expand on it and sweep the tales of farmers’ agitation under the media carpet.