Delhi (AsiaNews) – Despite an unprecedented police deployment and more than 7,000 detentions, thousands of people still tried to take their protest to the streets of New Delhi today, in what appears to be the most serious challenge to Narendra Modi's government in years.
After permission was denied for a gathering at the Jantar Mantar, the historic astronomical observatory whose grounds are the capital's premier protest venue, young people mobilised by the Cockroach Janta Party (Cockroach People’s Party), along with many other citizens, continued to gather at various locations across the capital throughout the day.
From denying authorisation and closing all 45 metro stations to halting train services, setting up roadblocks, and deploying massive security forces, Delhi police stopped at nothing to prevent the planned protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar who is accused of arbitrarily removing thousands of names from the electoral rolls on behalf of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Despite the crackdown, the protests went ahead anyway, not only in New Delhi but in other cities, and the scale of the repression only served to give them greater visibility.
Early this morning, in a dramatic raid right on board the plane taking them to Delhi, CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka were detained.
Anticipating the move, they had instructed another movement leader, Ajinkya Shinde, to post a video on X urging the protest to continue, stating that any location where police blocked the demonstrators would symbolically become their Jantar Mantar.
Several prominent figures were among the thousands detained, including four former heads of government from various Indian states and territories: Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, and Manik Sarkar. Neha Bora, a representative of the All India Students’ Association, met the same fate.
Another high-profile figure detained was Bollywood actor Imran Khan, who was taken into custody in Mumbai while participating in a protest against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India.
Before his detention, Khan said that he was taking to the streets to understand why freedom of movement was being restricted and why citizens' voices were being silenced.
For his part, prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had joined the CJP during the previous wave of protests, stated that he might launch a new hunger strike if the leaders detained during the crackdown are not released by Sunday.
In a video message posted on his social media profiles, Wangchuk stated that India is effectively in a state of “undeclared emergency”.
The activist explained that he had hoped for unity and peace ahead of the demonstrations, never imagining that the world's largest democracy could find itself in such a situation.
For Indian National Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi, who heads the parliamentary opposition, events show how “PM Modi [is] silencing voices” in New Delhi. “The entire city was shutdown, internet was shutdown. Police was beating students. BJP released their own 'goodas' (thugs) who were beating and thrashing students," Gandhi added.
Conversely, Rekha Gupta, a BJP member and local government official in Delhi, openly backed the crackdown, on the strength of her party's electoral successes.
“Why,” she said, “after all, are these leaders so hell-bent on venting the frustration of their nonstop defeats on the public? What offense have the residents of Delhi committed, who are already tormented by the chaos on the streets?”
However, the very way the BJP builds its support base, including through the revision of electoral rolls, lies at the heart of the issue raised by the ongoing protests, which show no signs of abating.
Opposition leaders have already called for a new day of action in New Delhi on Monday, focusing once more on challenging the irregularities that have come to light during the electoral roll revision process.
