When a man was allegedly surrounded and assaulted while shouting slogans at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest by the Opposition in New Delhi against irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a confrontation erupted.
The incident occurred while the Opposition protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The man is seen holding up a pro-Modi slogan, amid the scene where anti-government slogans were being raised, reports said, citing a video. He was then ringed by people and pushed and reported to be slapped a number of times.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly condemned the incident. Party spokesman Pradeep Bhandari said if a citizen got his tongue torn for supporting the Prime Minister, that’s an attack on the citizen by the Congress workers. He made the video post on X and lambasted the Congress for the incidence.
The BJP’s response coincided with the going political tussle over the Election Commission’s SIR exercise. The Congress and other opposition parties have expressed concerns about the undergoing of electoral register amendments and have called for action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress has also pointed out that the Election Commission has diluted the principle of equality of the voters in this country, a claim which has been denied by the ruling side.
The protest also resulted in police cases. Delhi police said that three FIRs were filed for the Wednesday demonstration and more are being filed. The charges include such things as assault on police officers, obstruction of government business, pushing, manhandling and lawful exercise of discretion.
The clash between police and protesters, and the political outcry, had only exacerbated the issue of the SIR, where both sides kept leveling accusations of police misconduct during the protests and electoral-roll revision.