The opposition INDIA bloc is gearing up to hold a mega protest in Delhi on Monday, following an intense police crackdown and mounting political fallout in the capital.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to extend her stay in Delhi and join INDIA bloc’s demonstration, reversing her travel plans and cancelling her scheduled return to Kolkata.
The planned demonstration stems from widespread agitation against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a protest movement initially called by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Hindustan Times.
On Saturday, Delhi Police launched a capital-wide crackdown, detaining several prominent political leaders and public figures. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee was detained on Saturday afternoon after sitting on a dharna on the road near the South Avenue bus stand.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was also detained by Delhi Police on Saturday after stepping out to protest over the CEC row.
In addition, law enforcement detained CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee. Rathee, who lives abroad, had arrived to join the demonstration against the CEC and was detained from his residence in Gurugram.
The demonstrations and security operations severely impacted public transportation, leaving 45 metro stations affected across Delhi.
Meanwhile, the controversy has sparked a bitter political standoff, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of instigating lawlessness.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, BJP leader Sambit Patra slammed Gandhi over his Friday remarks claiming that President Droupadi Murmu did not deny the INDIA bloc’s “vote chori” allegation during a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Denouncing Gandhi as a “nalayak” leader, Patra said, “Yesterday a few politicians visited the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The statement of Rahul Gandhi after coming out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan was like that of a ‘nalayak neta'”.
Patra further accused the Congress leader of attempting to pull the head of state into street agitation. “Never before was an attempt made to drag the president into a street protest. But a ‘nalayak neta’ attempted to do that. The anarchist Rahul Gandhi tried to pull the president of India to the anarchism, which he is trying his best to conduct on the streets of India,” Patra added.
