New Delhi, Oct 13 The CPI(M) on Tuesday vowed to resist the withdrawal of Jantar Mantar’s status as a designated protest site, alleging that the move is aimed at suppressing dissent and weakening the right to hold peaceful demonstrations.
Delhi Police on Monday de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated venue for protests and demonstrations, naming Ramlila Maidan, north Delhi’s Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi as alternative sites. The order followed recommendations by a committee constituted by the Union home ministry to examine alternative venues.
The CPI(M) Politburo condemned the decision, alleging that it reflected the BJP-led Union government’s “growing intolerance of dissent and its contempt for the constitutional right to peaceful protest”.
In a post on X, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby said de-notifying the protest site would not diffuse the protests, and called it “undemocratic” and “authoritarian”.
“By denotifying Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, if the Modi-Shah-Bhagawat trio think they can diffuse protests and make them invisible, they are wrong. Such moves further expose the BJP-led Union government’s intolerance of dissent and its contempt for the constitutional right to peaceful protests,” Baby said.
“Their undemocratic and authoritarian measures will only fan public anger against their anti-people policies. They want to render public dissent invisible and politically ineffective,” he said.
“The CPI(M) asserts that Jantar Mantar will continue to remain the place of protests for the public. We will resist all efforts to stop this, at any cost!”
CPI(M) Rajya Sabha leader John Brittas, too, lashed out at the Centre, saying a more “creative idea” for barring protests at Jantar Mantar would be to name the venue “Narendra Modi Square”.
“When you’re in panic mode, everything you do tends to go wrong! Delhi Police have denotified (forbidden) Jantar Mantar as a protest area, which is a violation of the Supreme Court’s order,” Brittas said in a post on X.
“But that’s not my point. The government should have thought of some creative idea. Imagine if Jantar Mantar was renamed ‘Narendra Modi Square’ — most protesters would look the other way.
“In any case, Modi has become an exception as he names airports or stadiums after himself right after inaugurating them!” Brittas jibed.
The CPI(M) Politburo in its statement said Delhi Police had routinely denied permission for protests at Jantar Mantar and the de-notification has formalised restrictions that were earlier imposed through arbitrary police measures.
Rejecting the alternative venues, the CPI(M) said they could not offer the visibility, accessibility and proximity to centres of political power that had made Jantar Mantar an important platform for democratic expression.
“The objective is to push public protests away from the centres of political power, depriving them of the visibility, accessibility and proximity that have made Jantar Mantar an important platform for democratic expression,” a statement issued on Tuesday said.
The Politburo asserted that Jantar Mantar would continue to be a public place of protest and said all efforts to stop peaceful demonstrations at the site would be resisted.
The de-notification came on Monday following over a week of protests in Delhi over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with demands for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have held demonstrations over the allegations, while police restrictions, barricades and detentions have repeatedly thwarted attempts to assemble at Jantar Mantar.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also continued to press for permission to protest at the site, arguing that it is the designated venue for demonstrations.
Earlier in the day, CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by police after they reached Jantar Mantar despite heavy barricading and a strong security presence.
(PTI News)
