Belgian-born economist Jean Dreze's comments on the government's handling of the protest has sparked questions about his identity, and how he reached Jantar Mantar to support the CJP.

Belgian-born economist Jean Dreze's comments on the government's handling of the protest has sparked questions about his identity, and how he reached Jantar Mantar to support the CJP.

Belgian-born economist Jean Dreze's comments on the government's handling of the protest has sparked questions about his identity, and how he reached Jantar Mantar to support the CJP.

As protests by the CJP against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar swelled up on Saturday at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, an apparent foreigner lent his support to them, lashing out at the heavy security deployment in the area.

This was Belgian-born economist Jean Dreze, whose comments on the government's handling of the protest have sparked questions about his identity, and how a foreigner could reach the venue and offer support to the CJP, despite the Delhi Police blockade.

"The reason why the government is so afraid is not that there is any risk of violence or any security risk, it is that the government is afraid that the people of this country will understand that their right to vote is being taken away," he told reporters at Jantar Mantar.

He added that the government's response to the CJP protests against Kumar was "completely out of proportion".

Originally born in Belgium, Dreze has lived in India for several decades, after which he even officially renounced his Belgian citizenship in favour of the Indian citizenship he was awarded in 2002.

He has served as a professor at the Delhi School of Economics and Ranchi University, and has also co-authored several important books with Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen on topics such as hunger, poverty, education, and social security.

In fact, just two months ago, he was awarded the Global Inequality Research Award at the World Inequality Conference held at the Paris School of Economics in June.

The award recognised his work on poverty and inequality measurement in India, as well as his advocacy for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the National Food Security Act.

Meanwhile, the protests have so far seen the CJP's top brass, such as Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka, detained, due to which the pressure group's Organization In-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, will take the protests forward.

Amid the detention of a number of Opposition leaders as well—many of them former CMs—the INDIA bloc has planned a mega protest on October 12.

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