Delhi paralysed, widespread arrests

There can certainly be debate over whether the Indian central government’s strategy is right or wrong, and whether its conduct is democratic or authoritarian. Questions can also be raised about why people cannot stage protests at a location designated by the government. However, the fact remains that the central government was determined to thwart yesterday’s, Saturday’s, march to Jantar Mantar by the “cockroaches” and their supporters, who were demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, and the scrapping of the SIR process. By the end of the day, the government had succeeded.

Yet, to achieve that success, the central government itself brought the capital, Delhi, to a complete standstill yesterday. It paralysed public life. Never before, even in the distant past, had anyone witnessed the capital in such a state.

Yesterday, 35,000 personnel from the police, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and paramilitary forces were deployed within a five-kilometre radius of Jantar Mantar. A seven-layer security barricade was erected around Jantar Mantar, and 3,000 CCTV cameras were installed.

Forty-five Delhi Metro stations were kept closed to passengers from Friday night throughout the day yesterday. No one was allowed to get off or board trains at those stations.

That was not all. A total of 250 long-distance train services bound for railway stations in Delhi were cancelled. The aim was to prevent any protesters from travelling to Delhi by train from other states yesterday. In BJP-ruled states, several hundred passengers travelling to Delhi to participate in the protest were taken off Delhi-bound trains and detained.
Internet services were cut off from yesterday morning in the area known as Lutyens’ Delhi, which includes Jantar Mantar, Connaught Place, Nirvachan Sadan (the Election Commission headquarters) and the Parliament building. The aim was to prevent the protest from being livestreamed.

Despite such an extraordinarily tight security clampdown, some fearless protesters defied police intimidation and joined the demonstration. The police detained them and took them to various stadiums, which had been prepared in advance to serve as detention centres.

The CJP’s protest was peaceful. At no point did the demonstrators behave violently towards the police. Nevertheless, security forces detained protesters wherever they found them—on trains, aboard aircraft and on public roads.

According to the latest reports, by yesterday evening the government had detained at least 6,000 people in Delhi alone in an effort to prevent the CJP’s Jantar Mantar protest. Many others were also detained in various states, including Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located.

Among those detained were four former chief ministers from four states: the octogenarian CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Manik Sarkar of Tripura and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi.

Vijayan and Kejriwal were detained while heading towards Jantar Mantar. Mamata Banerjee was detained outside her residence. Manik Sarkar was also detained in Delhi.

Finding it impossible to reach Jantar Mantar, Mamata Banerjee began a sit-in at a bus shelter in South Avenue, outside the official residence of her nephew, Abhishek. The police detained her along with the accompanying Members of Parliament Dola Sen, Pratima Mondal, Samirul Islam, Saket Gokhale and Derek O’Brien.

Yesterday morning, as soon as they arrived in Delhi from Bengaluru, three leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)—Abhijit Deepak, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das—were detained by police who boarded their aircraft.

Earlier, popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee had been detained from his home in Gurugram. He had arrived in India from Germany just three days earlier to join the “cockroaches’” movement.

Ratna Singh, head of the CJP’s legal cell, has also been detained by Delhi Police.

Before his arrest, Abhijit Deepak announced that Ajinkya Shinde would lead the movement in their absence. In doing so, the CJP made it clear that the protest would continue. By the end of the day, the party’s leaders were echoing Deepak’s words: despite the mass detentions and repression, the “Remove Gyanesh” movement would go on.

A report in The Indian Express late last night said that the CJP had also scheduled a programme at Jantar Mantar for today, Sunday. In a post published yesterday on the CJP’s verified X account, Ajinkya Shinde wrote: “The Modi government is afraid. If we unite again, its grip on power could begin to tremble. But we are not backing down! Tomorrow [today], we will march towards Jantar Mantar again. We will stage a sit-in there until all our demands are met.”

Neha Bora, president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, was also detained.

Anticipating that she would be prevented from reaching Jantar Mantar, Neha, a leader of AISA, organised a march with supporters and fellow activists outside the popular Dilli Haat market, near INA Market in South Delhi. Police detained her there. She was subsequently released.

Neha Bora alleged that Delhi Police had seized her mobile phone and kept it for a short period before returning it.

In addition to Neha, more than 100 protesters were detained from the march, including Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI (ML) Liberation; social activist Yogendra Yadav; and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Lawyers from the Supreme Court Bar Association were detained while marching towards Jantar Mantar. However, following the intervention of Chief Justice Surya Kant, they were released shortly afterwards.
Defying the government’s intimidation, many others attempted to reach Jantar Mantar by various routes but were stopped along the way. Each of them was put on a bus and taken to an undisclosed location.

Actor Imran Khan was detained during a protest at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai. After his detention, he posted a selfie from inside a police van, writing, “Feels like I’m going for a drive.”

However, a report by The Indian Express at around 10:30 p.m. last night said that everyone detained in connection with the protest had been released, except for the CJP’s top leaders. It had been reported earlier that former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal had been released. Neha Bora had been released even earlier. After her release, Neha wrote on her X account: “The police had taken my phone. I have got it back.”

All those detained in connection with the protests must be released by today, Sunday. Otherwise, educator and environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk has said he will consider going on a hunger strike or organising a march.

In a post on X yesterday, the Ramon Magsaysay Award-winning educator wrote: “When I posted a message yesterday appealing for unity and peace during today’s protest, I could never have imagined that the world’s largest democracy would find itself under an undeclared state of emergency.”
Delhi residents have never witnessed anything like this

The Narendra Modi government and the Delhi police and administration have set an unprecedented example of repression by using force and intimidation to suppress a peaceful democratic movement and bring public life to a standstill. For Delhi’s residents, this is without precedent.

The situation appears to evoke memories of the repressive Emergency of 1975, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi curtailed civil liberties, imposed censorship on the press and imprisoned political opponents.
Long-time residents of Delhi, however, have witnessed the Khalistani movement of 1983–84 and the farmers’ protests of 1988. The government of the time dealt with those two movements in its own way.

Farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait had occupied both sides of the wide Boat Club avenue along India Gate in Delhi for a week. Even then, public life was not brought to a standstill in this manner. What the Modi government has done this time to stop the “cockroaches” is something Delhi’s residents have never witnessed before.

The Boat Club was once the designated venue for peaceful, democratic protests in Delhi. In 1993, during the tenure of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, Jantar Mantar was chosen to replace the Boat Club as the site for democratic demonstrations. Now, that arrangement too may be about to change.

The question now is: what happens next? Abhijit Deepak and his colleagues will certainly not give up. Their statements and conduct over the past several days make that clear. The decision to entrust Ajinkya Shinde with leadership is further evidence of their resolve.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also urged the protesters to continue their movement in a video message from Chennai, saying, “Young people, keep protesting. I am proud of you.”

Issuing a warning to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said, “Mr Modi, do whatever you want. Call in all the police officers: 10,000, 20,000, 50,000—whatever number you wish. Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest all of us.”

The “cockroaches” had called for the second round of protests at Jantar Mantar on a public holiday. If the next round of protests takes place on a working day, will the government once again bring public life to a standstill in this manner? What if the protesters call for a continuous, indefinite movement? What will the government do?

The INDIA alliance has already announced that it will approach the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on Monday. Although the INDIA alliance and the CJP share the same objective, neither has so far shown any interest in organising a joint movement. This is a source of relief for the government.

However, its discomfort will reach a peak if the two sides join forces—and, of course, if the Supreme Court delivers an adverse verdict in the case relating to this matter. Developments over the coming days will therefore be significant.

Former election commissioners have been criticising Gyanesh Kumar’s methods and decisions, opposition parties have been voicing their protests in unison, and social media has been shaping public opinion against the Election Commission (EC), the BJP and the government. As a result, the government is increasingly being pushed into a corner.

In this situation, the RSS, the Sangh Parivar, the BJP and the Modi government are seeking to frame the movement as a battle between patriots and traitors, nationalists and separatists, and the nation and foreign conspirators acting with domestic collaborators. BJP president Nitin Nabin did not miss the opportunity yesterday to declare explicitly that they would thwart this domestic and foreign conspiracy to weaken the country.

Accepting the resignation of union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was relatively straightforward, but it would be far more difficult for the authority that appointed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to signal that he should resign. It is therefore fair to say that the confrontation between the government and the opposition is heading towards an increasingly complex situation.

The police had already announced last night that they were prepared to prevent the CJP’s planned programme today. As a result, today too, the public may once again witness the Modi government and the Delhi police and administration resorting to repression, coercion and a show of force.