NEW DELHI: Delhi Police detained over 3,000 people across the national capital on Saturday as the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) proposed protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was met with heavy security deployment and restrictions. The demonstration was called over allegations of voter-list manipulation during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and changes relating to Form 6, used for voter registration.Several protesters, activists, lawyers and opposition leaders were detained as they attempted to reach Jantar Mantar, where Delhi Police had denied permission for the gathering.The detentions also triggered sharp exchanges between the Opposition and the BJP, with Congress leaders accusing the government of suppressing dissent, while the ruling party defended the restrictions and criticised the protest.
Over 3,000 detained, heavy security across Delhi
Delhi Police detained more than 3,000 people during the day as demonstrators attempted to reach Jantar Mantar, officials said, as quoted by PTI. CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained inside their aircraft upon arrival from Mumbai, while YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was picked up from his Gurugram residence.Other political leaders, activists, lawyers and protesters were also detained at several locations across the capital including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal. Police deployed thousands of personnel, erected barricades and imposed traffic restrictions to prevent large gatherings in central Delhi. Several metro stations were closed, while authorities also imposed mobile internet restrictions in parts of the city.However, despite roadblocks and metro closures, a few protesters travelled for hours or walked long distances to reach the protest site. Despite barricades, traffic diversions and metro closures, a few protesters found their way to central Delhi on Saturday, travelling for hours or walking long distances to reach the protest site. “We are the youth of this country. If we don’t come, who will?” said Meer, who rode a scooter for two hours from Sarita Vihar, a squoted by PTI. Another protester, Lakhan, questioned the response to people raising their voices, saying, “The public is hungry. Answer their questions.”Delhi Police had denied permission for the protest, citing procedural requirements, public safety and traffic management concerns. The CJP had called the demonstration to demand Kumar’s resignation over allegations concerning the SIR exercise.In a separate development, police informed Dipke about the death of his 85-year-old paternal grandmother, Savitribai Shankarrao Dipke, in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. According to a police statement, he was also offered possible assistance to travel to his hometown on humanitarian grounds to attend her last rites.
4 former CMs detained
Arvind Kejriwal, Mamta Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, Manik Sarkar were among the several detained by Delhi Police amid anti-SIR protests. Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was detained along with Trinamool Congress MPs while attempting to reach Jantar Mantar. She later said she had begun a dharna at Dwarka North police station with five party MPs, alleging they had been taken away in a prison van and driven around for two hours despite complying with police instructions. “We were kidnapped and driven around in a prison van for two hours,” Banerjee wrote on X. She also said she would remain in Delhi and join the INDIA bloc’s march on Monday, adding, “It is a super emergency.”Read more: Mamata alleges Delhi Police ‘kidnapped’ her, driven around in prison van for 2 hrsKerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was detained during the protest, prompting condemnation from CPM leaders. In a Facebook post after being taken into custody, Vijayan accused the NDA government of turning Delhi into an “open prison” and using armed police and paramilitary forces to suppress demonstrations. He alleged that the Centre was attempting to turn India into a “police state” and said the struggle to protect the Constitution and voting rights would continue.Later, he said, “Delhi is witnessing the Modi government’s ruthless crackdown on democracy. Protesters are being detained and even journalists covering the agitation are being picked up, while the government evades questions on electoral integrity.” “The BJP cannot evade the questions on electoral integrity and silence those demanding accountability through state repression. No repression can extinguish our resolve to defend the Constitution and the right to vote,” he added.Meanwhile, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was detained outside his residence while attempting to join the protest. Before his detention, he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting out of fear of the CJP demonstration. “This is worse than the Emergency. It’s official… We are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi,” he wrote on X. He also alleged that the BJP had won elections through “vote chori” and said, “Gyanesh must go, but so must Modi.”Read more: Former CMs Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Arvind Kejriwal among opposition leaders detained from DelhiAdditionally, Sarkar was detained along with CITU All India general secretary Elamaram Kareem, student activists and trade union leaders at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana.
Police personnel injured in stone-pelting
Six Delhi Police personnel, including a female member of the Pink Force, were injured while detaining protesters at different locations in the capital. The injured personnel were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, while the circumstances in which they sustained injuries were being ascertained.Suman, a Pink Force member, said her finger was fractured while she was detaining protesters near the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place. “A protest was taking place near the Hanuman temple, where a crowd of around 100 to 150 people had gathered. We detained the protesters, during which some women twisted my finger, resulting in a fracture,” she told PTI.Suman said the women were detained but added that she could not identify who had injured her because of the size of the crowd. “Despite my injuries, or those suffered by any other security personnel, we will not be deterred from performing our duty towards the nation,” she said.At least two incidents of stone-pelting were reported. Near Akashwani Bhawan on Imtiaz Ali Marg, around 25 to 30 protesters, including Students’ Federation of India (SFI) members, allegedly toppled barricades and hurled stones at security personnel around noon. Some protesters were detained, police said.In a separate confrontation near Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Connaught Place, a head constable said a scuffle broke out as police tried to detain protesters, adding that a stone struck his shoe. Stones were also reportedly thrown at a bus carrying detained protesters in Jhandewalan.
Congress accuses government of suppressing dissent
The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi took aim at PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah and RSS. “I’ve been fighting Narendra Modi and the RSS for over a decade now. I understand them like you would understand your opponent – inside out, like the back of my hand. The core characteristic of these people is cowardice. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat, Gyanesh Kumar and Ajit Doval, the villains of this story, are slowly finding the space closing around them. We are closing that space. Mr. Modi, do whatever you want. Call out all the police: 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, whatever you want. Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all,” he said on X.Priyanka Gandhi also criticised the mass detentions saying, “First they rough up 254 MPs and detain them completely illegally, infringing on their basic constitutional rights; they do the same to other protestors from Opposition parties. Then they lay siege to the national capital, barricading it and sealing it on all sides, stopping trains and metros, cutting the internet and placing check posts all over. They bash up and detain young men and women exercising their constitutional right to protest.“Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the Modi government over the detentions, saying it had turned the “Mother of Democracy” into a “Muzzled Democracy”.In a post on X, Kharge said students, lawyers, journalists, social activists, farm union leaders, YouTubers and content creators questioning the government were being detained. He asserted that the Congress and the united Opposition would continue to fight the government and defend democracy, the Constitution and citizens’ fundamental rights.Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also criticised the restrictions, questioning why roads leading to Jantar Mantar had been placed out of bounds despite the site being designated for public demonstrations.Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of attempting to discredit the Opposition for raising questions about the electoral process. He defended the right to protest and criticised internet restrictions and detentions during demonstrations.Meanwhile, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal announced that the Congress and the INDIA bloc would hold a major protest in Delhi on Monday, October 12, as part of their campaign over voting rights and electoral reforms.
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Also read: Congress slams government over mass detentions amid massive anti-SIR protests
BJP defends action, accuses Opposition of promoting unrest
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad criticised the Opposition’s protests, asserting that the country would be “governed by Parliament and not the streets”. He said the protests amounted to attempts to create anarchy and argued that the BJP’s electoral victories in Assam, Nandigram and Puducherry demonstrated the strength of Indian democracy.Prasad said the BJP was not opposed to protests but accused the Opposition of using street demonstrations in response to electoral defeats while saying “CJP is shadow boxing for AAP”.BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra also defended the government, saying the events at Jantar Mantar did not reflect the situation across the country. He alleged that certain forces had attempted to create unrest in Delhi but had failed.The BJP’s response came amid continued criticism from opposition parties over the denial of permission for the CJP demonstration and the detention of protesters seeking to reach Jantar Mantar.
