New Delhi: A brief face-off unfolded in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday after CPI(M) MP John Brittas accused the Delhi Police of entering the party headquarters to arrest former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, prompting Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to term the incident a threat to democracy.
The Centre, however, dismissed the allegations, saying it was a routine law-and-order matter.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Brittas alleged that Delhi Police personnel had “barged into” the CPI(M) headquarters Tuesday to arrest Ghosh, claiming that her “only mistake” was to participate in a protest at Jantar Mantar.
He said the police told party members they were acting in connection with a 2021 case related to protests at the JNU campus.
Brittas alleged that the police personnel entered the headquarters without wearing uniform, terming it an attempt “to scare us and send fear across”. He described the issue as one that went beyond party lines.
Backing Brittas, Kharge alleged that officials had entered the headquarters of a recognised national party and it was a “very shameful” incident.
“Democracy is not safe, people are not safe,” Kharge said, urging that action be taken against the officials involved as well as those who authorised the operation.
Responding on behalf of the government, Leader of the House J.P. Nadda rejected the Opposition’s criticism, describing the episode as “a very normal law-and-order situation”.
Drawing on his own experience during the Emergency, Nadda said he had been arrested twice from his classroom as a student activist under the then Congress government.
“When student activists take law and order into their own hands, the police have to act accordingly,” Nadda said, adding that such action was a normal part of political activism and should not be viewed as extraordinary.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)