Author and historian Ramchandra Guha today lashed out at the government over the countrywide raids and arrest of activists, calling it a "brutal, authoritarian, oppressive, arbitrary. illegal act" by the Maharashtra police. Speaking to NDTV after the arrest of five well-known activists and intellectuals, Mr Guha blamed it on the "corporate cronies of the ruling government," who, he said, were bent on grabbing tribal land, forest and mineral resources.