Jantar Mantar belongs to people of India: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has vowed to reclaim Delhi’s Jantar Mantar as a public protest site, criticising the detention of two Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders for demonstrating there with the Indian national flag.

In a post on X on Wednesday (October 14), Gandhi said waving the national flag was not a crime and described the jailing of young protesters as cowardly. He said students, young people, journalists and opposition groups were united in demanding their constitutional rights.

CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were sent to five days of judicial custody after being detained on Tuesday (October 13) for allegedly crossing police barricades, entering Jantar Mantar and raising slogans.

Authorities recently removed the historic protest site from the list of designated demonstration venues, prompting criticism from the CJP and other groups.

The incident comes amid opposition protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition groups allege that the exercise has excluded voters and could benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has denied the allegations.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee have also criticised the detention.

-AH