Over 100 protesters were arrested on charges of commotion and police disturbance by the Chennai police on Saturday during the protest that demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar while it was held near Elliott’s Beach. The protest also followed two nationwide protests against Indians allegedly being removed from electoral registers and police crackdowns at a protest in Delhi.
The protesters held posters and chanted slogans expressing their discontent with the Election Commission and demanding Kumar’s resignation. The Chennai protest was just as activists from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and others were planning a Jantar Mantar protest in the national capital.
Among the detainees was activist Radhika Ganesh, who told that they demanded Kumar’s resignation and protested the electoral list had been unconstitutionally purged of more than 13 crore people. Their right to vote should be safeguarded, she added, and slammed the detentions of under-age protesters nationwide.
A second protester stated that people didn’t have to be part of any political party in order to take part in the demonstration, and that it was a citizens’ protest. A woman demonstrator also accused the authorities of holding protesters, saying the protest was a part of a broader nationwide protest.
The protesters were not duly invited and allowed to assemble in the town and block the roads as police could not permit an unauthorised gathering, a senior police officer told.
Its action was criticized by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders. Party chief and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin recalled the Emergency period and described the scenes going on in Delhi to similar events that occurred during the period. He called for the release of political leaders and students and young activists jailed in Delhi and other places.
Stalin also blamed Tamil Nadu’s Congress government for following the BJP and resorted to police rowdyism during the students’ agitation.
Meanwhile, the DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin lashed out at Chief Minister Vijay for the detentions, describing him as a “dummy Chief Minister” and wondering about his take on the police action.
The number of the detentions have triggered debates on the rights of protest and voter roll modifications and how the police dealt with protests in the country, across India.