There was political chaos in the national capital Delhi on Saturday when the police used unprecedented and tight barricades to stop the Jantar Mantar march organized by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Delhi Police and administration had transformed the capital into a cantonment to completely thwart the protest. Tight security arrangements were made from Central Delhi to all the borders of the city and heavy police force was deployed at every nook and corner. More than 35 thousand security forces deployed in Delhi, security at every nook and corner. The strictness of the administration can be gauged from the fact that more than 35,000 police and paramilitary forces (CAPF, BSF) personnel were deployed in Delhi to stop the demonstration. All the roads leading to Jantar Mantar were completely sealed with multi-layer barricades, water cannons and tear gas vehicles. Prohibitory orders (Section 163) were imposed in the city in view of security, due to which traffic on main roads and metro stations was severely affected and common citizens also had to face a lot of problems. Rapid arrests took place from the airport to inside the plane. Police took strategic steps to weaken the protest and detained many prominent leaders and activists even before they reached their destination. The most shocking incident came to light when key CJP leaders, Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das, who were reaching Delhi by plane, were stopped by the police inside the plane and taken into direct custody. Apart from this, many senior political faces who came to support the protest like Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar and CPM leader Vrinda Karat were also taken into custody by the police. Even after the arrest of big leaders, when the workers suddenly started 'flash protest' in small groups near Safdarjung flyover, Delhi Haat and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the police showed strictness there too and detained hundreds of people including lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and AISA president Neha Bora. According to official figures, the police have detained a total of more than 2,500 people. All of them were packed in about 600 buses and taken to temporary detention centers like Chhatrasal Stadium, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Yamuna Sports Complex and Surajmal Stadium. Although police sources say that most of the protesters were released by the evening, political excitement remains at its peak in the capital after this high-voltage drama.
