Protests LIVE | CJP says ‘State at war with citizens’; Rahul invites all to SC march tomorrow
CJP-led agitations demanding SIR rollback and resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar enter Day 2; leaders say country being “pushed towards civil war-like situation”
Despite the Supreme Court's direction on Sunday (October 11) that people gathering peacefully should not be illegally detained, crackdowns continued in Delhi, with CPM Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas being detained along with Left political and student leaders, and allegedly driven around in a prison van through the national capital. Brittas was allegedly pushed off the vehicle at one point and he was found in a visibly distressed state.
In the afternoon, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) held a Press conference, with its leaders asking why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "desperate to protect" Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. "What does he know about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections or other polls that BJP won that you have to protect him?" remarked CJP leader Saurav Das.
The pressure group remarked that the "State was at war with its citizens" and that it had "created a civil war-like situation". They gave CEC Kumar 48 hours to resign, after which they would launch an indefinite sit-in and a nationwide “Election Commission Thik Karo” campaign. Leader Ashutosh Ranka said the movement would expand its focus to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the morning, the apex court issued a notice to the Centre on a plea seeking contempt proceedings for alleged violation of the court's direction to ensure that there is no "complete prohibition" on Metro and train services in Delhi due to the CJP protest.
In a special sitting, a bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure that Delhi Metro functions as per its normal schedule, and that there is no disruption to internet services, subject to law and order conditions. The apex court also asked Mehta to ensure that lawyers, journalists and others are not impeded in discharging their professional duties.
The CJP and Opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of CEC Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, who were put under preventive arrest following their detention yesterday at the Delhi airport ahead of the Jantar Mantar protest, were released on Sunday morning after being produced before an executive magistrate.
They were released on condition that they would not "breach peace" for a year, CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh said.
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- 11 Oct 2026 7:31 AM IST
GenZ deserves better than undeclared Emer-GenZ: Tharoor slams govt
Hitting out at the Modi government, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday claimed that Delhi is witnessing a "war-like deployment", and said "our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ".
Tharoor also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2015 post about the Emergency and said, "Thanks for teaching today's youngsters many of the same lessons, Modiji!"
In an earlier post, Tharoor said the government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression.
Tharoor, who was in Berlin this week, said he returned to the national capital after 2 am and has rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now.
"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," he said on X.
"Most regressive (as well as repressive) is the suspension of the internet in the heart of the national capital," the former Union minister said. Freedom of movement stands completely shackled, he added.
