Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has said that the death of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy cannot be justified even if Maoists are “more dangerous than Kashmiri separatists”.

In his weekly column Rokhthok in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Raut said that India’s foundation is strong enough and cannot be shaken by an 84-year-old man.

Being critical of an incumbent government doesn’t mean being against the country, he said.

‘Activities of the Elgar Parishad could not be supported’

Swamy died in a Mumbai hospital recently.

“A government that is scared of an 84-year-old physically challenged man is dictatorial in character and weak in the mind,” said Raut.

He further said that the activities of the Elgar Parishad could not be supported, but what happened later should be called a “conspiracy of cracking down on freedom”.

Defending Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gaurav Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde, Raut said all those arrested subscribe to a particular ideology and voice their rebellion through literature.

“Can they overthrow the government with this?” he asked.

‘Difference between opposing the government and country’

“We may disagree with the ideology of Maoists and Naxals. Swamy’s death in custody cannot be justified even if Maoists and Naxals are more dangerous than Kashmiri separatists,” PTI quoted the Rajya Sabha member as saying.

Saying that there is a difference between opposing the government and country, Raut said if anyone thinks that opposing a government is a conspiracy to overthrow the country, then the seeds of dictatorship are rooted in their minds.

The Catholic Jesuit priest had campaigned for Adivasi’s rights, and his bail application was pending with the Bombay High Court.

Meanwhile, India rejected mounting international criticism over the death of Swamy, saying the concerned authorities act against violations of law and do not restrain the legitimate exercise of rights.