Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a post on X, alleged that security deployments, transport disruptions and an internet suspension were being used to prevent citizens from peacefully questioning the integrity of elections. "The government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression," he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), calling for the release of those detained.
Tharoor said he returned to the national capital after 2 am and had rarely seen anything like the situation he encountered. He described checkpoints every few hundred metres, with concrete barriers and spike strips laid across roads.
In his post, he cited a deployment of 22,000 police and paramilitary personnel across the city, the cancellation of 250 trains and the closure of 45 metro stations. He also referred to reports of young people being detained from their homes and from streets in and around Delhi. The measures, he alleged, were intended "to prevent citizens from peacefully raising questions about the integrity of our elections".
Tharoor described the suspension of internet services in the heart of the national capital as "most regressive (as well as repressive)". "Freedom of movement stands completely shackled," he wrote. He said Jantar Mantar had been designated specifically to allow citizens to voice dissent in central Delhi, but even the roads leading to it had been declared out of bounds.
ALSO READ | 25,000 Cops, Metro Curbs, Travel Advisory: Delhi Under Thick Security Blanket Ahead Of CJP Protest
Tharoor also questioned why a similar deployment and urgency were not evident when women in the capital needed protection. "One is entitled to ask where this extraordinary manpower and urgency disappear when women in our capital need protection," he said.
Calling for detainees to be released, he asked whether the authorities would lock down the capital again if protesters returned on Monday. "Our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ," he wrote.
Tharoor argued that a government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome scrutiny. He said turning the capital into a fortress to avoid questions would deepen the suspicions the government sought to suppress. "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," he wrote.
His criticism centred on restrictions on movement and dissent, alongside a demand for answers from the government and the Election Commission. "The strength of a democracy is measured by how it treats those who question its working," Tharoor concluded, describing what he had witnessed as "utterly shameful and unconscionable".
ALSO READ | CJP Leader Abhijeet Dipke Detained By Delhi Police Inside Airplane In New Delhi | Watch Video
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.