Mumbai, Oct 10 (PTI) Opposition leaders in Maharashtra on Saturday slammed the Centre over the detention of protesters during an agitation against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi, calling the action “cowardly”.
NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray, and Congress leader Nana Patole accused the Narendra Modi-led government of trying to crush the protests in Delhi and Mumbai.
The national capital was turned into a fortress on Saturday as police launched a sweeping crackdown, detaining CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and nearly 500 protesters.
Dipke and two other CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were detained from inside the aircraft as soon as their flight from Mumbai landed in the national capital.
The CJP has called the proposed demonstration against the CEC over allegations of voter-list manipulation during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and changes relating to Form 6, used for voter registration.
In Mumbai, police detained Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and his supporters ahead of their demonstration at August Kranti Maidan in solidarity with the CJP’s Jantar Mantar protest. He was taken to DN Nagar police station, an official said.
Sule described the government action against protesters heading to Delhi as “cowardly”.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Sule demanded comprehensive electoral reforms to ensure free and fair polls.
“I condemn this act because it was a very peaceful agitation. They were going to participate in Delhi, and I personally feel it is a strong word, but it is cowardly of any government to do that,” she said.
She said the country needed serious electoral reforms, stressing that the issue was not about any particular party winning or losing.
The Baramati MP said that the Opposition would be willing to accept an electoral outcome even if Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power after reforms, provided the election was free and fair.
Citing the Khadakwasla assembly constituency in Maharashtra’s Pune district, Sule questioned the changes in voter numbers following the SIR exercise and sought access to the data.
The NCP (SP) working president said the constituency had around 5.5 lakh voters during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which later dropped to around 3.1 lakh, while the number had now reportedly fallen to about 2.5 lakh after SIR.
“Three lakh voters are gone. I don’t know where they are. I’m not saying that they disappeared. There may be a scientific reason for it. Give me the data. Let’s correlate it,” she said.
Sule also questioned the drop in voter numbers in her Baramati Lok Sabha constituency and said the authorities should provide data to enable a proper examination of the changes.
Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut termed the protests a revolt by the people, stressing that the government cannot stop them.
“This is the beginning of the end of the Modi government. It will breathe its last in March-April (2027),” said the Rajya Sabha member. He added that any strong leader would have faced the situation and understood the demands of the youth and the Opposition.
Condemning the detention of Tushar Gandhi in Mumbai, he called the Modi government “cowardly”.
“Aditya Thackeray and I are leaving for DN Nagar (police station). This fight against dictatorship will continue,” he said in a post on X.
The police should not follow illegal orders of the government, the Rajya Sabha MP said.
His party colleague Aaditya Thackeray also took to X to attack the Centre.
“The regime still doesn’t have the guts to call this an Emergency,” Thackeray said in a post on the social media platform, sharing a photo of Trinamool Congress leaders, including former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, detained in a police vehicle.
Senior Congress leader Nana Patole slammed the heavy deployment of security personnel in the national capital, saying the government was scared.
“The Modi government is frightened. For the past five days, it tried to crush Rahul Gandhi’s movement. Thousands of security personnel were deployed for that purpose,” he said.
Metro, railway and internet services have been shut down in Delhi. Protests will now erupt across the country against Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the BJP, he claimed.
“It is clear that the government was formed by vote theft. It would not be an exaggeration to call this government crueller than the British,” he alleged. PTI MR PR CLS ZA ARU NP BNM NR
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