New Delhi:
The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in connection with an editorial he wrote on Islamic terrorism in an Indian newspaper in July this year. Mr Swamy has been charged with Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code for spreading enmity between communities.
Mr Swamy is one of the main petitioners in the Supreme Court for the telecom scam, also referred to as "the 2G scam" after the sort of spectrum involved. Mr Swamy believes the case against him is a manifestation of political vendetta. "I wrote the article in July, the FIR is filed in October," he said. "The motive seems to be for my stand on 2G."
Mr Swamy had urged the Supreme Court to monitor the investigation into the 2G scam, which is being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Since November, the inquiry has cost a couple of union ministers their jobs, and lodged several executives at some of India's biggest telecom companies in prison. Mr Swamy has recently asked the court to direct the CBI to investigate the alleged role of P Chidambaram, currently the Home Minister, in the scam. When the telecom scam unfolded in 2008, Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister.
After Mr Swamy's editorial was published, a group of Harvard students had urged the University to cancel the courses that Mr Swamy teaches every summer at the university.