Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 10: The ruling BJP has called it a “victory of the people” after a massive police crackdown on the students and opposition leaders to thawart the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest call demanding the ouster of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral fraud and rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
The massive police action across Delhi and even beyond and shutting down the public transport system in the national capital on Saturday was aimed at scuttling the CJP’s call for protest demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The BJP called the CJP protest a “flop show” after police rounded up the top CJP leaders before they could even land in Delhi and detained a large number of students and youth leaders across the country on apprehension that they might join the CJP show in Delhi.
Much of the attack by BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, focused on Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi and the recent protests by the Congress-led INDIA bloc. “India is not a banana republic. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, this country has never bowed and never will,” Prasad said, defending the SIR exercise of voter rolls and the CEC.
Another BJP national spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra criticised the protest at Jantar Mantar against the CEC describing it as an attempt by opposition forces to create unrest in the national capital. He claimed the demonstration did not reflect the mood of the country and asserted that democracy had prevailed over what he termed “mobocracy.”
“Jantar Mantar’s story is not India’s story. What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India’s story. India is calm and going ahead under good governance,” Patra said.
Accusing the protesters of attempting to hold the national capital “captive,” Patra alleged that there had been efforts to trigger arson and violence. “But today, democracy has triumphed over bheedtantra (mobocracy),” he said.
Mr Prasad claimed that the opposition protest during the last three days had totally failed to convince the people of their claim of “vote theft.”
“Based on the events of today and the preceding three days, two things have become clear. “One, Indian democracy has thwarted attempts to incite anarchy. Two, the country will be governed by Parliament, not by the streets,” he explained, citing bypoll victories of the BJP-led NDA’s wins in Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry on Friday.
“All these elections took place while this entire mischief was unfolding in Delhi over the past several days. The BJP wishes to particularly highlight that this stellar performance in Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry occurred while a movement for anarchy was underway in Delhi and other parts of the country,” he argued.
“We are not opposed to protests, but you have weaponised street protests because of your electoral defeats,” he said, aiming at the Congress by name, though he did not name the CJP as such. “These defeated and frustrated people have been troubling the people of Delhi for the past three to four days and weaponising street protests. But we are proud of the people of India for rejecting and foiling their conspiracy,” he added, claiming that the protests do not have popular support.
Over 1,000 people, including CJP’s founder Abhijeet Dipke and other leaders, were detained in Delhi on Saturday morning. Four former chief ministers — AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, and the Left’s Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar — were also detained during the day, as was AISA president Neha Bora. The huge police and paramilitary deployment across Delhi managed to prevent them from reaching the Jantar Mantar protest site, citing a denial of permission.
Rahul Gandhi, who was in Chennai for a student outreach event, later posted on X, “Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all. We are surrounding you, and we are not going to back down. Mark my words: we already have the information we need… Youth of India, I am proud of you. Keep protesting. We are standing with you.”
Gandhi led protests for four days this week, and the INDIA bloc handed a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu on Friday. On Rahul Gandhi’s assertion after that meeting on Friday that the President “did not deny” allegations of “vote chori,” Mr Prasad said his claim was an insult to the President’s office.
Mr Patra also targeted Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on the President calling him a “nalayak neta” and accused him of attempting to involve the President in street protests. “Never before was an attempt made to drag the President into a street protest. But a ‘nalayak neta’ attempted to do that,” Patra said, alleging that Gandhi was trying to draw the President into what he described as anarchy.
The BJP response comes as Delhi Police closely monitors the movements of individuals suspected of mobilising crowds or encouraging others to participate in the protest. Surveillance has been intensified outside the residences of such individuals as part of the security measures, the sources added. Police personnel have been deployed at strategic locations across the national capital, particularly along routes leading to Jantar Mantar and other sensitive areas, to prevent any untoward incident.
Security arrangements include heightened surveillance, monitoring the movement of individuals suspected of attempting to disturb public order, and keeping a close watch on possible mobilisation efforts ahead of the proposed demonstration. The planned protest has prompted increased security across Delhi, with police maintaining a strict vigil to prevent any breach of peace.