CJP Protest
'Undeclared Emer-GenZ': Shashi Tharoor slams Delhi curbs over CJP protests, calls internet shutdown 'most regressive'
New Delhi/IBNS: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has criticised the extensive security measures imposed in Delhi ahead of a youth-led protest at Jantar Mantar against the Election Commission's actions on voter lists.
The security arrangements reportedly include checkpoints, the deployment of 22,000 personnel, barricades, train cancellations, metro closures and internet suspension.
The planned demonstration by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) seeks the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over a voter list revision that reportedly removed around 130 million names.
Critics have alleged that the exercise favours the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
CJP claims its convener Abhijeet Dipke, co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka arrested from inside their flight when they were on the way to protest against Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. #CJPProtest #AbhijeetDipke #SauravDas #AshutoshRanka #GyaneshKumar #DelhiProtests #BreakingNews #LIVEUpdates
— India Blooms (@indiablooms) October 10, 2026
Tharoor calls internet suspension ‘repressive’
In a lengthy post on X, Tharoor condemned the suspension of internet services in the heart of the national capital, describing it as “most regressive” and “repressive”.
“Freedom of movement stands completely shackled. Jantar Mantar was designated precisely so that citizens could voice dissent in the centre of Delhi, and today even the roads leading to it have been declared out of bounds,” he wrote.
He also questioned the deployment of extensive security resources for the protest, contrasting it with the challenges faced by women seeking protection in the capital.
“One is entitled to ask where this extraordinary manpower and urgency disappear when women in our capital need protection,” the Congress MP added.
I returned to the national capital after 2 am and have rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now, with checkpoints every few hundred metres, concrete barriers and spike strips laid across our roads, a war-like deployment of 22,000 police and paramilitary across the city, 250 trains cancelled and 45 metro stations closed, and reports of young people being detained from their own homes and the streets in and around Delhi -- all to prevent citizens from peacefully raising questions about the integrity of our elections. Most regressive (as well as repressive) is the suspension of the internet in the heart of the national capital. Freedom of movement stands completely shackled. Jantar Mantar was designated precisely so that citizens could voice dissent in the centre of Delhi, and today even the roads leading to it have been declared out of bounds. One is entitled to ask where this extraordinary manpower and urgency disappear when women in our capital need protection. Those detained will hvre to be released .And if the protesters simply return on Monday, will the authorities lock down the national capital all over again? Our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ. A government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome questions about them, whereas one that turns its capital into a fortress to avoid them only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress. The government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression. Barricades will do nothing to restore faith in the Election Commission, and the sooner it answers the public's questions, the sooner calm will be restored. The strength of a democracy is measured by how it treats those who question its working, and by that measure, what we have seen today is utterly shameful and unconscionable. https://t.co/C3jkLU1dm1 @INCIndia
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 10, 2026
‘Our GenZ deserves better’: Tharoor
Tharoor called for the release of those detained during the protests and questioned whether the authorities would impose similar restrictions if demonstrators returned on Monday.
“Those detained will have to be released. And if the protesters simply return on Monday, will the authorities lock down the national capital all over again? Our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ,” he wrote.
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