Opposition leaders, cutting across party lines, rallied behind the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leadership following the preventive detention and judicial custody of Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, even as the Delhi Police claimed that the action against the leadership came after they tried to obstruct the police personnel deployed at the Jantar Mantar area from carrying out their duties.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and several senior leaders from the Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) condemned the action, demanding the release of the activists. They asserted that Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India.
Das and Ranka were sent to five days' judicial custody and are lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a protest area, police sources said.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi strongly criticised the imprisonment of the activists, describing it as an act of cowardice. "Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice. Students. Youth. Journalists. The INDIA bloc. Different banners, one cause. All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights. Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it," Gandhi wrote in a social media post.
Mamata Banerjee also condemned the arrests, describing them as an attempt to intimidate and silence an entire generation. "We, and many generations before us, have fought strongly for our democratic rights. We must continue to do so. I strongly condemn the arrest of Ashutosh and Saurav of the CJP. These moments are about us all, pledging and standing up to fight unitedly to protect our great democracy," Banerjee wrote on X.
Assuring the country's youth of her continued support, Banerjee said, "Your Didi is with you today and forever."
She noted that citizens must not surrender their constitutional rights and alleged that similar attacks on democratic freedoms were taking place elsewhere in the country. "This is unacceptable. We must never surrender our constitutional rights. This murdering of democracy is happening in many parts of the country. At this moment, 14,000 of our people in Bengal are facing the brunt of police and political atrocities," she claimed.
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said Das and Ranka, along with their associate Ajinkya Shinde, had entered Jantar Mantar as part of a symbolic protest against the order denotifying it as a protest site.
Bhattacharya alleged that the action amounted to punishing the activists for challenging the government's decision. "Jantar Mantar belongs to the people and the whole world knows it as Delhi's most common protest site," he said in a social media post.
He claimed the decision to denotify the site and the subsequent action against the activists reflected the government's fear of public protests.
CPI general secretary D. Raja also termed the detention and judicial custody of the CJP leaders undemocratic. He pointed out that the remanding activists for allegedly trespassing at a location that had until recently been a designated protest site amounted to harassment.
"Afraid of popular anger, the government wants to curtail protests and silence dissent. Since when did protesting against an undemocratic order become a crime?" Raja asked on X.
Demanding their immediate release, Raja said the decision to denotify Jantar Mantar would be challenged politically and legally.
RJD MP Manoj Jha also questioned the police action, expressing disbelief that entering Jantar Mantar could lead to criminal charges. "What is the charge? That he made it to Jantar Mantar? This is an unbelievable government, honestly. It is deeply unfortunate," Jha told news agency PTI.
He asserted that Jantar Mantar belongs to the people and urged the authorities to respect citizens' right to protest.
"Every person expressing their pain through protest is united. To those making these decisions, Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. The right to protest is their right. Engage with them with compassion. Do not take that right away. The people know how to take back what is theirs," he said.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra said entering Jantar Mantar to stage a protest could not be considered a criminal offence. "This cannot be a criminal act. If the Supreme Court is still quiet, then it is complicit in the murder of our Constitution. Simple," Moitra wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police maintained that its action followed repeated violations of the law and attempts to incite others through social media posts. In its statement, police said personnel deployed at Jantar Mantar had attempted to prevent the protesters from entering the area but were allegedly obstructed.
Police sources said the CJP leaders had violated their peace bonds and entered Jantar Mantar despite its denotification as a protest area.
—with agency inputs
