PoliticsOpposition
Rahul Gandhi and opposition leaders rally behind jailed CJP leaders: 'Waving the Tricolour is not a crime'
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to Tihar for five days after entering Jantar Mantar with the national flag. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, AAP, DMK and the Left closed ranks behind them.
Key points
- Rahul Gandhi backed the Cockroach Janta Party for the first time, calling the jailing of its leaders an act of cowardice.
- Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, M K Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan and D Raja all questioned the arrests.
- Rahul told young protesters to keep videos and photographs of any police violence they faced.
Leaders across the opposition lined up on Wednesday behind two jailed leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and Rahul Gandhi, who had kept the young outfit at arm’s length for months, came out in its support for the first time.
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were produced before an Executive Magistrate on Wednesday morning and sent to five days of judicial custody in Tihar Jail. They had been detained early on Tuesday after climbing into Jantar Mantar, which Delhi Police struck off its list of protest sites at the weekend, waving the Tricolour and calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police registered a case for trespass, breaking prohibitory orders, breaching the peace bonds the two had signed days earlier and obstructing public servants.
“Jantar Mantar belongs to the people”
“Waving the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha wrote. “Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice.” He added: “Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it.”
It was a marked change of tone. Only the day before, at a joint press conference outside his home, Rahul had said “There are no parallel protests”, and Congress had stayed away from the CJP’s own march on 10 October. Das had attacked the Congress ecosystem as recently as 2 October.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke welcomed the support. “Thank you, LoP @RahulGandhisir, for speaking out against the illegal arrest of @AshutoshRanka & @SauravDassss,” he wrote.
A wider front
The response went well beyond the Congress. “Is waving our own flag in our own country a crime?” asked AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee called the arrests an attempt to intimidate and silence a generation. DMK president M K Stalin said detaining young people would not silence them and would only bring more citizens onto the streets; his party, no longer part of the INDIA bloc, offered the CJP legal help. Former Keralam chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also spoke out, and CPI general secretary D Raja called it harassment to jail the two for “trespassing” at a site that had been a designated protest venue only days earlier.
Between them, the leaders accused the government of criminalising dissent.
Rahul meets the students
Later on Wednesday, Rahul met students and young protesters who said they had been beaten in police custody after the weekend demonstrations. Some said they were kicked and choked and had their phones taken; a Delhi University student said she had lost hearing in one ear.
“These young people have only one voice, and that is the voice of India. No one can stand against it,” Rahul said. He urged them to keep a record of every incident. “Videos or photographs will be essential,” he said, warning that “the day is approaching when those who suppress the voice of our democracy will have to face strict justice”, and naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the CEC among those who would be held to account. “Peaceful protest is your right. We will not allow anyone to take it away,” he said.
The Supreme Court is due to take up the petitions over the weekend detentions on Thursday.