India mobilizes 23,000 agents in New Delhi due to protests

Athe Indian authorities today announced the mobilization of about 23,000 police and military agents in the capital, New Delhi, in view of protests called for Saturday by the student movement known as “Partido das Baratas” (CJP).

The protests were not authorised by the competent authorities because the deadlines were not respected.

The members of the movement are expected to demand the resignation of India’s President of the Electoral Commission, Gyanesh Kumar, appointed to office by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and accused of manipulating the electoral notebooks to benefit the party of the head of the government.

All this indicates that there will be suspensions and closures of services, particularly on rail and metro networks, interruptions that could worsen, given the lack of authorisation for protests and the antecedents of previous demonstrations in the country, during which there have been alleged violations.

It is estimated that 57 metro stations will be affected by the demonstrations, so they will all remain closed from 21:00 locations today (01:30 Saturday in Lisbon).

The spokesman and leader of the movement, Deepak Baliyan, was released after being arrested by the Rajasthan state police in western India. Baliyan still hasn't spoken about it, but he warned that his phone was destroyed.

“Deepak Baliyan was released at the end of the night [Thursday],” announced today on social media the co-organizer of the movement, Ashutosh Ranka, who ensured that “the Rajasthan police took him on a journey of 100 kilometers, but ended up leaving him at home again.”.

Ranka stressed that “there are limits that should not be exceeded” and considered it positive that the regional police “had finally realised this”.

On Thursday, the movement denounced Baliyan’s arrest at his own residence, claiming that the spokesman of the movement associated with the young Indian people of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) would have been “stretched, assaulted and detained by the Rajasthan police, then transferred to an unknown location”.

“ This is the absolutely dictatorial face of this government,” said the movement, also releasing a video that allegedly shows Baliyan’s arrest by Indian security forces.

The news came in the context of protests in recent days against India's President of the Electoral Commission, Gyanesh Kumar, accused of trying to manipulate electoral notebooks to favor the party of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

The demonstrations, which require Kumar's resignation, were driven by the “Party of Cockroaches”, led by student assemblies, which gained enormous social influence throughout the year, to the point that during the summer forced the resignation of the Minister of Education, Dharmandra Pradhan, following a scandal related to leaks in exams.

Still, the co-organizer of the movement addressed a message to police officers from all Indian states in a publication published shortly thereafter.

Recognizing that “what is being ordered to them at this time is the result of superior instructions,” he questioned them about “how they can raise their hands against their own children” and “how they can drag them through the night, behaving like bullies.”.

Ranka also stressed that the movement follows “the teachings” of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement, and Babasaheb Ambedkar, chief architect of the Constitution of India, remaining faithful to the “way of non-violence and the Constitution”.

“We will not raise our hand against anyone or resort to violence. But they must also understand that, whatever happens, tomorrow [saturday] we will be at Dinner Mantar”, warned, referring to the event scheduled by the movement in the historical astronomical observatories of Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan.