After Delhi police crackdown, protesters return with resolve
A Delhi police official was injured at the protest site in Jantar Mantar on Wednesday in an alleged incident of stone-pelting. Delhi Police said in a statement that ACP Jai Prakash, posted at Punjabi Bagh, was struck on the forehead while performing duty at the protest site when demonstrators resorted to stone-pelting. He has been shifted to the hospital for medical treatment. So far, four FIRs have been registered at Parliament Street police station, three at Connaught Place, and one each at Mandir Marg, Barakhamba Road and Kartavya Path.
On the ground, the thousands who filled Jantar Mantar through Wednesday showed no sign of having received the message the Government may have intended to send with Monday’s crackdown. If anything, the crowd had calcified into something harder and more resolved. “They lathi-charged us on Monday. We slept on the ground that night and came back the next morning. We are here again today. How many times can they clear us?” said a 22-year-old Aditya from Lucknow, who gave shared his first name. He had come to Delhi on June 20 and has not gone back.
Across the site, young people with bruises and bandages from Monday sat in circles, shared food and charged phones from generators. Many walked several kilometres each morning after being stopped at Metro station gates. Sixteen stations stayed shut through Wednesday, beginning with Janpath, Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk, and Central Secretariat.
CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka, addressing the crowd at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, said the movement had already achieved two victories. He said the country, which had forgotten how to ask questions and where questioning the government was considered anti-national, had been awakened and was now asking questions. The CJP announced it would not leave Jantar Mantar until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.
A young woman who identified herself as a third-year engineering student from Hyderabad said she had arrived in Delhi on Sunday night, just before Monday’s march. She had been beaten, she said, and had a bruise on her arm to show for it. “My parents are calling me home. I told them I will come when Pradhan ji resigns. They think I am joking.”
Separately, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh travelled to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram on Wednesday to visit Sonam Wangchuk, who had been shifted there from Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday evening following a Delhi High Court order directing his transfer. Police officials at Medanta denied Singh permission to enter and meet Wangchuk. Singh then sat down in a dharna at the hospital entrance, refusing to leave. He eventually ended the sit-in after a period of time, but not before drawing attention to the restricted access being maintained around Wangchuk, who continues his indefinite hunger strike even after the hospital transfer.
Wangchuk was brought to Medanta by ambulance at around 7:30 pm on Tuesday under tight security and admitted to ICU-8 under the supervision of Dr Sushila Kataria, an internal medicine specialist. His vital signs remained stable, but his blood sugar levels continued to be low, and he showed persistent pancytopenia, including anaemia and low white blood cell counts, according to the hospital’s latest medical bulletin.
The state answered with numbers of its own. The Union Home Ministry ordered 20 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force airlifted from West Bengal on Tuesday night, each with about 100 personnel. Roughly 30 companies of the CRPF and the Rapid Action Force were already with Delhi Police.
CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said the party remained willing to talk and suggested holding any government meeting at a neutral location near Jantar Mantar, after police approached the CJP and informed them that JP Nadda wanted to speak with them. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had already said anyone wanting to hold discussions would have to come to the protest site.
