lutyens Zone in lockdown as RlD clique raises the roof
Police on Tuesday afternoon barricaded several roads in the lutyens Zone and shut down Race Course Road Metro station to prevent protesters from reaching 12 Tughlaq Road bungalow for a planned meeting demanding its conversion into a memorial of former Prime Minister Charan Singh. Police said that the gathering was ‘illegal’ and all those participating in the ‘Jat Mahapanchayat’ were detained. Several protesters were detained by the police. Barricading of major roads around
Tughlaq Road caused traffic snarls in various parts of Central and South Delhi in the morning office hours. The Delhi Police had done their homework and were prepared in advance for the situation. The entire area was cordoned off. Section 144 of CrPc was already imposed in the district. Additional Commissioner of Police, New Delhi district SBS Tyagi said that they detained 250 people for breach of peace and violating section 144 that was imposed in the entire New Delhi district.
Commuters had a harrowing time and the cascading effect was felt at INA, Teen Murti, Aurangzeb Road, Rajesh Pilot Road and several other roundabouts as traffic remained heavy. The bungalow is currently occupied by Charan Singh’s son Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) chief Ajit Singh who has refused to evict the government property and has demanded that the bungalow be converted into a memorial to his father. The government, however, had rejected the demand, saying the Union Cabinet in 2000 had banned conversion of government bungalows into memorials.
According to a Delhi Traffic Police official, Prithviraj Road and Safdarjung Road were open for traffic but roads around and leading to Tughlaq Road were shut down. Singh, who lost the recently held election, was served the eviction notice and electricity supply to the sprawling bungalow was disconnected by the authorities last week.
It may be noted that Ajit Singh who was vacate the bungalow by Thursday has convened a ‘Mahapanchayat’ at 12 Tughlaq Road and Jats from western Uttar Pradesh owing allegiance to RlD and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) were invited to join the meeting. The meeting was specifically called to pass a resolution to declare 12 Tughlaq Road as a memorial in the name of Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. RlD supporters and BKU activists had demonstrated at Murad Nagar water treatment plant that caters water to East Delhi’s Sonia Vihar plant against the disconnection of water and power connection to the bungalow. Violence broke out as the Uttar Pradesh tried to stop the protesters from shutting down the regulator of the water treatment plant. Police later registered a case at local police station against RlD MlAs and BKU activists.
Ajit Singh had tried to garner the sympathy of people from his community to prevent his imminent ouster from the prime property in New Delhi’s highly protected lutyens Zone, said a political activist.