Delhi Witnessing Brutal Atmosphere Like the Emergency; Police Have Become BJP’s Enforcers, Says CPI(M)

Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI(M) has said that a brutal atmosphere resembling the Emergency prevails in Delhi, accusing the Delhi Police of acting like violent enforcers for the RSS and BJP. In a statement issued by its state secretariat, the party strongly condemned what it described as the Central government’s fascist actions to suppress protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and detain senior CPI(M) leaders.

CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby, senior leader and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Keralam, state secretary M V Govindan, A Vijayaraghavan, party Central Committee members, women, student and youth leaders, and MPs were among those taken into custody.

The party alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were pushing the country towards unrest to protect the Chief Election Commissioner. It demanded that the BJP explain why more than 50,000 police and paramilitary personnel had been deployed and prohibitory orders imposed, creating an atmosphere resembling a lockdown.

Internet services were suspended in Delhi, and 57 metro stations were shut. Trains travelling to Delhi, including those departing from Keralam, were stopped from completing their journeys to the capital, the party said.

The police action in which they boarded a flight to detain CJP leader Abhijit Deepke was described by the CPI(M) as barbaric. The party said these measures restricted freedom of movement and freedom of expression. It added that even the Supreme Court had to express disagreement with such restrictions when M A Baby approached it.

The party said the reality that more than 13 crore voters had been removed from electoral rolls without justification had come to light. It also alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner was acting as an executioner on behalf of the RSS-BJP camp.

The CPI(M) accused Amit Shah and his associates of believing that peaceful protests erupting across the country could be crushed through force.

“India won its freedom and has protected democracy by breaking through even greater iron curtains. The RSS and BJP must not forget that. The people will ultimately emerge victorious in this struggle,” the statement said.

The CPI(M) called for widespread protest marches and public meetings against what it described as the Central government’s fascist suppression of democratic dissent through the police and other security forces.