The past one week was full of turmoil for Delhi and this turmoil of Delhi was felt in many other parts of the country as well. Amidst the protests, such security arrangements were made in the country's capital which were described as unprecedented.
Nearly thirty thousand police and paramilitary forces were deployed across multiple layers of security.
Pictures and videos showed policemen forcibly dragging protesters and pushing them into buses.
Cockroach Janata Party i.e. CJP was at the center of these demonstrations. Along with him, opposition parties were also demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. These parties allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are benefiting from the SIR process.
There appear to be three major forces shaping this movement – the Cockroach Janata Party, the Congress-led India Alliance and leftist organisations. These demonstrations have posed a challenge to the government and this entire incident is giving rise to many questions.
How is this movement of CJP different from the previous protests? This time the issue is not just about opposition to any one decision or person but is related to the electoral system.
But is it able to connect the common people? What is the role of CJP, Congress-led India Alliance and leftist student organizations in this whole story?
But perhaps the most important question is what will happen next with this protest? Will this lead to any institutional rethink on the SIR process? Or will these demands have no impact despite demonstrations, detentions and political confrontation?
To find answers to these questions, Mukesh Kumar, Director of Journalism, Collective Newsroom, spoke to BBC correspondent Jugal Purohit, senior journalist Srinivasan Jain and Nistula Hebbar, political editor of 'The Hindu'.
This time, the police preparations and its action in the protests were much more extensive and quick as compared to the previous Jantar Mantar protests.
BBC correspondent Jugal Purohit, who was covering these demonstrations, says that their biggest objective was to prevent anything from happening.
He says, "On the afternoon of the 10th, everything was quiet at Mandi House. Suddenly two women came from somewhere holding a small placard in their hands, which we could not even read. They had barely walked five or 10 steps when about dozens of RAF soldiers came there. A bus also arrived soon and they were made to disappear. This whole incident was over in three-four minutes or maximum five minutes."
Nistula Hebbar, political editor of 'The Hindu', who keeps a close eye on the current government, also feels that the police was more prepared this time.
She says, "I think they were fully prepared that they should not be allowed to sit anywhere and freeze. They wanted to stop the movement from spreading like last time. You must have seen that no one was beaten much in the India Block protest. Things were made easy there that you go here, get out from there. There were a lot of police on the road, but apart from this nothing else happened."
Senior journalist Srinivasan Jain says, "The government is being accused of behaving like a dictator. This has become an issue in itself and around it, voices like unemployment, inflation, women's safety are also being heard. And this is not unusual. It happens in many protests that one main issue remains and other people also join around it."
Jugal Purohit says that many questions have been raised on Delhi Police as an institution. In the last demonstration, many people were working in plain clothes, with their faces covered and did not even have badges. This was visible in this performance also. The question of pellet gun still remains.
He says, "Journalists had made allegations of sexual harassment before the 10th. We tried hard to register an FIR for it but it has not been registered yet, its investigation is still going on. On the other hand, an FIR has now been registered against those people (those who complained of sexual harassment)."
Three major groups had called for protests in Delhi - CJP, Left organizations led by AISA and India Alliance led by Congress. Who among these is seen setting the agenda?
Nistula Hebbar says that the agenda of the opposition - at least the agenda of putting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the dock - has been set. According to him, one of the problems with protests is how to end them in a dignified, good and satisfactory manner, especially when your demands cannot be met immediately.
She says, "I liked the structure of the India Block protest. It ended up going to the Supreme Court, filing a petition in a court, going to the sub-registrar, filing a court case and leaving from there. So for the weekend, I would say that the opposition and Neha Bora should get decent marks, CJP should get a little less."
Jugal Purohit saw uniformity among the three parties in the protest this time. All three parties are saying the same thing regarding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the SIR and the law which brought about fundamental changes in the Election Commission. But they do not see uniformity in the functioning.
Srinivasan Jain says that when you challenge the government, you should follow up. If you announced a demonstration or gave a challenge and then you were not seen in the field, then surely people would think a little about it.
He says, "Neha Bora is getting so much attention because she is constantly active and visible. CJP was never in the field, whereas Neha kept trying on the 10th, kept trying on the 11th, has been trying continuously. That is why Congress has accepted it and given her this role."
Now some criticism has also started regarding CJP. By his attitude, by the way he works and now in a way by his absence. Does he seem to be lagging behind a little in this era?
In response to this, Srinivasan Jain says that you can see this as a contradiction. When they gathered for the first time, the government thought that it was a social media incident and nothing would happen on the ground, but the situation escalated so much that the government had to take the resignation of a minister.
He says, "CJP clearly has some power. The power to mobilize people, the influence, the community, the audience, which perhaps even CJP itself would not have guessed. Now CJP has taken it so seriously that they have closed the entire capital of India, which has not been done for any other protesting group till now."
"But meanwhile the organizational capacity of CJP was not visible. All three of your leaders went into custody, and they have no backup plan, no clear blueprint. The planning and organization of other groups, like leftist groups etc., was better. CJP has some weaknesses organizationally, lack of experience."
Nistula Hebbar says, "Even on July 20, Abhijit Dipke was not well and was probably in a truck. At that time, Saurabh Das and Ranka were at JP Nadda's house. At that time, many of my non-journalist friends who were involved in this protest said, many had even posted on social media saying, this has suddenly become directionless."
"The second time when you called people, Delhi had become a cantonment. Now everyone is saying that what was the need to post the video and say that we are coming by this plane, like this? That is, literally it was an open invitation to come and arrest us."
Nistula Hebbar further says, "These people were arrested and those who called them started looking for who was leading? Then Neha Bora did something towards INA Market. She ran here, ran there. She had to do something in the name of protest. It was not possible that everyone would say, 'Ok brother, these three people have been arrested, now we will go home.'
"It is your duty to show the way to those who have come. You have called for protests. That is why a little doubt is being created among the people."
This time, the way journalists were treated, they were dragged and put in buses, many pictures and videos of this are continuously appearing on social media.
This issue is also being raised in the hearing going on in the court.
On this matter, Jugal Purohit says that efforts were made to ensure that those pictures and videos of the struggle do not come out.
Police and other security forces were trying to completely surround the protesters so that journalists could not take their photographs. Wherever the journalists were going, they were raising their shields so that photographs could not be taken.
He says, "I saw this for the first time. Apart from this, when we were speaking on the mic, we were surrounded and whistled in front of our mic. Everyone was doing this. Imagine that you are talking and 20 people start whistling in front of you, your mic and audio may get disrupted. Apart from this, your chain of thoughts will be interrupted."
Srinivasan Jain says, "Since 2014, we are seeing that the freedom of the press is being strangled one after the other. Pressure is being put on the media owners so that the channels and newspapers change their entire line. Now they have started detaining journalists in the field."
He says, "Except in the conflict areas like Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and the North-East, I have never seen that the police have been given complete freedom in a way that they do not understand any difference between the protesters and the journalists. Journalists are showing their badges, showing their mics, but in front of my eyes, about seven or eight journalists were held very badly, abused and put in a van."
"This is a new worrying change. After Jantar Mantar 1.0, the government has become like a wounded tiger, which had to accept defeat, retreat. This time they are attacking with more aggression. And this is very worrying for our media fraternity."
Srinivasan Jain also says that it is a complex scenario that anyone can create a media badge, create a logo of their own and start recording videos from their phone. Regulating it is a challenge.
Along with this, he questions the intentions of the government and says, "But this is not as big a law and order issue as the government wants to make it. And it wants to do this because the mainstream media has become domesticated, but these small and big platforms on social media are becoming a challenge. Therefore, it becomes an excuse to regulate, control, shut them down."
