"Whether he is in the sky or on the earth, the police have to arrest," Himanta Sarma said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, justifying the dramatic arrest of Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera after he was deplaned this morning in Delhi, said the police were "duty-bound" to arrest Mr Khera.
"If the FIR has been registered against relevant sections of the law, the police have all the rights to arrest," Mr Sarma told NDTV, while campaigning in Nagaland's Dimapur
A police team swooped into Delhi from Assam within 24 hours of an FIR being filed that accused Mr Khera of remarks "made intentionally" to provoke BJP workers, "causing breach of public peace, with intent to incite violence and disturb peace and tranquility in the society."
"Don't go by the manner, whether he is in the sky or on earth, the police have to arrest," Mr Sarma said on the swift action against the Congress leader.
Mr Khera was travelling to Chhattisgarh's Raipur for a key party meeting and asked to deboard the IndiGo flight on which he was bound to fly. After two hours, he was arrested.
The Congress, which protested on the tarmac against the action, approached the Supreme Court that granted Mr Khera interim bail. "There has to be some level of discourse, we are protecting you," Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said.
The Assam Chief Minister also drew a comparison and spoke of the FIRs filed against him by the Congress for his controversial "father-son" barbs at Rahul Gandhi last year. "Can you abuse a father? Because I said something about the father of a leader, Congress has filed 130 FIRs against me in Telangana," he scoffed.
Doubling down on Mr Khera's arrest, the chief minister said, "whenever an offence is committed, there will be a clampdown."
Pawan Khera has been charged for allegedly "insulting" Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent press conference. The spokesperson fumbled with PM Modi's name while demanding a joint parliamentary probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row. "If Narasimha Rao could form a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), if Atal Bihari Vajpayee could form a JPC, then what problem does Narendra Gautam Das...sorry Damodardas...Modi have?" he said.
The BJP said it was a deliberate insult to the PM.
Assam has emerged as the favoured destination for FIRs linked to anti-BJP criticism. Mr Sarma posted a strong tweet after Mr Khera first made the comments.