Traced Protesters, Issued Notices, Checked Funding: How Centre Planned CJP Crackdown Days Before Delhi Anti-CEC Protest

The Centre had planned the crackdown of protestors days before the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Union Home Secretary on October 4 met several state DGPs and select police commissioners, directing them to find people who participated in similar protests and ensuring they do not leave for Delhi from their states.

Police officials were also instructed to issue notices, start preventive detentions if necessary and track down the agitators heading for the Delhi protest, the Indian Express reported.

Carry out 'Preventive Detention' if needed

The Home Minister then conducted a second meeting two days before the protest. The authorities directed cops for “preventive detention” if needed. A probe was also made to find out the sources of funding.

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The DGP also issued a confidential letter to all police units of Maharashtra, the home state of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke. Notices were served to the would-be protestors, with the Mumbai police detaining at least 200 people on Friday. The report mentioned that such restrictive measures were taken so that the protest does not escalate as it did on the July protest.

Ensure they don't reach Delhi

The authorities believe that the July protest occurred as the cops underestimated the strength of the agitation. To prevent such a situation this time, the Delhi Police asked the MHA to ensure that people did not reach Delhi for the protest at all, since large crowds would be difficult to manage.

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Maharashtra was considered particularly important. It was believed that many from the state would participate since Dipke is from Maharashtra. The report said it was also generally believed that Dipke’s state had many active Left organisations that would put their might behind the protest. For the administration, stopping crowd buildup at the point of origin was seen as the only viable method to prevent a repeat of July’s overwhelming agitation.

The Anti-CEC protest

The protest in Delhi and Mumbai came after a controversy over a report by The Indian Express that the two Election Commissioners had raised objections to the aspects of the SIR 14 times over the past 10 months. The Election Commission denied the report's claims, saying that differing views and comments were a normal part of discussions, but all decisions taken were unanimous.

Earlier this year, the CJP staged a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on July 20 over the NEET paper leak, demanding the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Following the 36-day agitation, Pradhan finally resigned as the Union Education Minister and was replaced by Prahlad Joshi.