Jantar Mantar Protest: What did BBC correspondents see in CJP's protest?
Published 2 minutes ago
Reading Time: 10 minutes
In Delhi on Saturday, during the demonstration in support of the demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the standoff between the police and the protesters continued throughout the day.
There was heavy barricading in Jantar Mantar and surrounding areas since morning. A large number of police and security forces were deployed. CJP had appealed to the people to come to Jantar Mantar for the demonstration.
People arriving to join the demonstration were being detained. There were clashes between police and protesters at many places.
Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Deepke and his associates Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who came to Delhi from Mumbai to join the protest, were taken into custody from the airport itself. At the same time, some detained protesters managed to escape by opening the emergency gate of the police bus.
In the afternoon, famous economist Jean Dreze also reached Jantar Mantar, but the police did not allow him to sit on the dharna there.
Despite the day's action, protesters continued to be seen around Connaught Place and Jantar Mantar till evening. They were arriving in small groups and were moving away when the police arrived.
But the impact of this demonstration was not limited to the protesters only.
Elderly people, women and children returning from hospitals were not getting buses and autos to go home.
Skip to Most Read Skip to content
most read
finished
Passengers were waiting at the railway station to get information about their trains. Due to restrictions on mobile internet, there was difficulty in booking cabs through the app and making payments through UPI.
But the impact of this demonstration was not limited to the protesters only.
Elderly people, women and children returning from hospitals were not getting buses and autos to go home. Passengers were waiting at the railway station to get information about their trains. Due to restrictions on mobile internet, there was difficulty in booking cabs through the app and making payments through UPI.
So what happened in Delhi the whole day? Where did the protesters reach despite the police action? And what impact did this demonstration have on the common people?
Five BBC correspondents went to different areas of Delhi and took stock of the situation. Read the story of the day based on the reports of what he saw and the people he talked to.
Heavy barricading around Jantar Mantar since morning
skip ahead podcast
Dinbhar: Same voice, new style
Big news from the country and the world that made headlines.
episode
finished
BBC correspondent Vishnukant Tiwari left for Jantar Mantar at 6.30 in the morning. It took them almost two hours to reach the Parliament Street police station.
This police station is near Jantar Mantar. Thousands of police and security forces were present there.
After this he reached Connaught Place area. He reported throughout the day in Indrapuri, Regal Cinema and surrounding areas.
Vishnukant says that CJP had called for the protest, but it was difficult for people to reach the protest site.
Between 11 and 12 in the morning the protesters started arriving in small groups. Many of these groups were of eight to ten people.
By that time thousands of security personnel were deployed in the area.
According to Vishnukant, as soon as the protesters arrived, the police would put them one by one in buses, detain them and take them out of the area.
During this period there were many scuffles. Some people were also forcibly taken away.
Vishnukant also talked to the people present there.
According to him, some people alleged that another group was also protesting against CJP's protest, but the police was not taking any action against that group.
At the same time, people who came in support of CJP's protest were being detained and taken out in buses.
However, the situation changed as the day progressed.
Later in the morning, protesters started reaching the Connaught Place area in slightly larger numbers than in the morning. Their groups started appearing in different parts.
How was the performance on the streets?
BBC correspondent Dilnawaz Pasha saw scenes of barricades, running police vehicles and people being detained at various places in Delhi since morning.
At 10.30 in the morning, Abhijeet, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were taken into custody from the plane itself.
Dilnawaz was present at the airport at that time.
Many fellow workers of these people were also present there. After receiving the news of being detained they all appeared sad.
After this, at around 1.30 pm, Neha Bora along with hundreds of workers moved from INA Market towards Safdarjung.
He demonstrated for about an hour. After this he was also taken into custody.
While talking to BBC, Neha Bora said that she will be seen on the streets again.
Dilnawaz then reached Rajiv Chowk Outer Circle in Central Delhi.
He says that to reach there he had to cross six-seven barricades. At many places press cards and credentials had to be shown.
Common people were not allowed to reach that area.
Despite this, hundreds of protesters were shouting slogans on the other side. Dilnawaz saw many people being detained there too.
According to him, most of the people who took part in the protest against the Election Commission on October 10 were taken into custody.
However, at that time BBC did not have any official information about the total number of people detained by Delhi Police.
During this period, many journalists and content creators were also detained.
Escaped by opening the emergency exit
BBC correspondent Raghavendra Rao had reached some distance from Jantar Mantar around eight in the morning.
He told that the first three-four hours of the morning passed peacefully.
A major reason for this was the heavy barricading on the roads leading to Jantar Mantar. Due to this the protesters were not able to reach there.
Raghavendra Rao was present in the Outer Circle of Connaught Place.
According to him, arrest of people was going on there since morning. The police were detaining isolated protesters from time to time.
But later a large group of protesters tried to demonstrate.
They sat on strike for some time on a nearby road.
However, this strike did not last long.
The police immediately took action and tried to take the protesters away from there by loading them in buses.
During this time another incident happened.
By opening the rear emergency exit of the bus in which many protesters were being transported, many protesters got off the bus and managed to escape.
Famous economist Jean Dreze was not allowed to sit on strike
In the afternoon, famous economist Jean Dreze reached near the second entry point of Jantar Mantar.
He had a poster in his hand.
Some slogans were written on it regarding the Election Commission, Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR process.
Jean Drèze wanted to wave this poster and sit in protest there.
But the police did not allow him to sit there.
According to Raghavendra Rao, seven-eight policemen picked him up from there and made him sit in a bus.
Some women activists and protesters present with him were also removed from there at that time.
After the top leadership of CJP was detained by afternoon, it was feared that perhaps the protesters would not reach there.
But this did not appear to happen till evening.
Even at around 5.30 in the evening, protesters were present around Connaught Place.
According to Raghavendra Rao, people would come, protest for some time and as soon as they felt that the police was coming to arrest them, they would run away.
Passengers worried, waiting for train information
The effect of the demonstration and security arrangements was also visible at New Delhi Railway Station.
BBC correspondent Siddhanath Ganu reached New Delhi railway station at around ten in the morning.
Many people were waiting for their trains there. Some passengers were trying to know whether their train would run or not.
According to Siddhanath, by that time information about cancellation of about ten to twelve trains had appeared on the information board of the station.
But no information was available about many other trains.
At the station he met a young man who had come from Bihar.
This young man had reached New Delhi railway station at five in the morning. From there he had to go to Karol Bagh, which is very close to the station.
But he was not able to find any means to go there.
Auto drivers said that there is barricading ahead, so they cannot go.
At the same time, cab drivers were demanding exorbitant amounts of money even for very short distances.
Due to restrictions on mobile internet, it was not possible to book a cab through the app.
Siddhanath also saw some bike riders outside the station, who usually take rides through app-based services.
These riders were roaming around the station and asking people where they needed to go.
They were telling the fare to the passengers and many people were bargaining with them.
At the station, Siddhanath also met a family who had to go to Bihar.
There were still four hours left for their train to arrive.
The family told that due to the fear of meeting a crowd on the way, they had reached the station before time.
But after reaching the station, they were not able to know whether their train would run or not.
Some passengers were waiting for Howrah Express.
He also told that no updates were available on the app. There was no information whether the train was cancelled, whether it would run late or arrive on time.
According to Siddhanath, till morning media reports had said that more than two hundred trains connected to New Delhi and Nizamuddin stations had been cancelled.
He himself saw the information about the cancellation of dozens of trains on the information board of the station.
A large number of passengers were sitting at the station confused as to what would happen to their further journey.
Elderly and small shopkeepers worried
BBC correspondent Jugal Purohit, along with fellow journalist Deepak Jasrotia, saw the problems people were facing while traveling from Noida to Jantar Mantar.
Jugal says that pictures of the police's behavior with the protesters have come to light, but there is another story of this entire incident about the problems of the common people.
During the journey, he saw that elderly people, women and children were coming out of hospitals, but they had no means of going home.
Neither autos nor buses were available.
Jugal met some senior citizens at the bus stop.
He told that he was waiting for the bus for one and a half hour, but no bus was coming.
These people feared that they might have to walk about ten to twelve kilometers further.
There were some elderly people who were not getting autos.
Customers were also coming to him, although their number was less. But there was another problem also.
Customers did not have cash. Now many people are no longer in the habit of keeping cash.
At the same time, due to closure of mobile internet in Jantar Mantar and surrounding areas, payment through UPI was not possible.
Shopkeepers told that they had opened shops, but already less customers were coming and even those who were coming were not able to pay.
Jugal says that these were just some of the problems that he saw during his journey.
According to him, common people must have faced many other problems as well, which they could not register completely.
Jugal also raised the question that what strategy and what answer does the government have to overcome the difficulties faced by the common people due to the protests.
Demonstration continued till evening, but reaching Jantar Mantar difficult
From what BBC correspondents saw in different parts of Delhi from morning till evening, many pictures of demonstrations and police action emerged.
In the morning, it was difficult for the protesters to reach there due to heavy barricading on the roads leading to Jantar Mantar.
Some people were detained from the airport. The protesters who moved from INA Market towards Safdarjung were also detained.
The police kept taking away the protesters who arrived in small groups at Connaught Place in buses.
But despite these actions the protests did not stop completely.
Some protesters escaped by opening the emergency exit of the bus. Some tried to stage a dharna by sitting on the road.
Protestors were visible around Connaught Place till around 5.30 in the evening.
In this way, the police kept taking action to stop the access of the protesters around Jantar Mantar and detain them, while the protesters kept trying to register their protest by reaching different groups.
Meanwhile, common people faced difficulties in transportation, rail travel and digital payments.
At that time, BBC could not get official information about the total number of people detained by Delhi Police.
