Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Sunday described the developments surrounding protests in Delhi as “ominous” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, amid a police crackdown on demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“The signs being seen on the streets of Delhi are ominous for Messrs Modi and Shah. We are seeing journalists being picked up by police from outside the Press Club of India. These are dangerous signs for this government,” O’Brien, the TMC’s parliamentary leader in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters.
Several journalists covering protests in the national capital on Saturday against CEC Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls were detained by police, prompting the Press Club of India and three other journalists' organisations to condemn the action and demand an inquiry.
The protests were organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and joined by student groups. The police have detained protesters at multiple locations in the city over the past two days.
O'Brien also thanked young people and members of CJP for mobilising the protests.
"Gratitude to the young people of India (cockroach emoji) who got this going. Now, ALL of us, together. United. Let’s get this done," he said in a post on X.
On Saturday, an unprecedented security clampdown and the detention of over 7,000 protesters, including CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke and four former chief ministers, helped the government thwart a planned mass mobilisation at Jantar Mantar to press for the resignation of CEC Kumar.
Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site, wore a deserted look throughout the day, with the deployment of over 30,000 security personnel and waves of barricades in Lutyens' Delhi to keep the protesters away from the area.