Mamata, Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan detained amid anti-CEC protest

Several Opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan, were detained during a protest in Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The demonstrators demanded his resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls

New Delhi: Several Opposition leaders, including former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, AAP national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were detained by police on Saturday while attempting to join a protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in the national capital against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Mamata Banerjee was detained along with several MPs of the All India Trinamool Congress (Mamata faction) from South Avenue in central Delhi. She had staged a sit-in at a bus stop after being stopped by police.

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Banerjee and five of her party’s MPs, including Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, were detained and taken away in a police bus. The former West Bengal Chief Minister sat with a band-aid over her mouth during the protest.

“The government is misbehaving with us,” Banerjee said in a video statement from inside the police bus. “We, the INDIA bloc, will continue to fight to strengthen people’s voice,” she added.

Arvind Kejriwal, whose residence had been surrounded by Delhi Police since morning, was also detained when he attempted to leave to join the protest.

Speaking to reporters before his detention, Kejriwal said, “There are police personnel and paramilitary forces everywhere. People are not being allowed to leave their homes… The police are picking people up as they walk on the streets. No one is being allowed to go anywhere. They have created an atmosphere of authoritarianism across the country. Why? They want to suppress this issue of ‘vote chori’ and continue doing it. But the people of this country will not allow this to happen.”

“The youth of the country have risen. Today, CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das, along with Dhruv Rathee, Ratna Singh and others, have been detained. The youth of the country are very angry. I request people to come to Delhi however they can to stop this vote chori; otherwise, this country and this democracy won’t be saved,” he added.

Former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) MP John Brittas were among those detained by police and taken to the detention centre at Chhatrasal Stadium.

CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby was also detained.

Earlier in the day, CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurabh Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by police at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi while on their way to Jantar Mantar to stage a protest demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.