Mumbai, Oct 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Monday accused the Central government of resorting to "cowardly" dictatorial tactics to crush "widespread" anti-government demonstrations across the country.
Its criticism comes in the wake of a security clampdown in the national capital and Mumbai on October 10, during which thousands of protesters, student activists, and key opposition figures were detained.
The Thackeray camp in the party's mouthpiece, 'Saamana', said that the Central government deployed armed security personnel -- recalled from anti-terror and anti-Naxalite operations in regions such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Manipur -- to enforce an unprecedented blockade across Delhi.
Access routes and alleys across the national capital were sealed, while an estimated force of nearly 1,00,000 armed personnel surrounded the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Krishna Menon Road. The aggressive security grid disrupted public infrastructure, shutting down internet services, metro transit, local bus networks, incoming long-distance trains and commercial flights. Police reportedly boarded an aircraft to detain key political leaders, including Dipankar Bhattacharya and Manoj Jha, claimed the editorial.
Despite the widespread logistical shutdown, large crowds of students and civil society members reached protest venues in Delhi. During the crackdown, police arrested former Chief Ministers, including former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, the editorial stated.
In Mumbai, police detained Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, as he attempted to lead a peaceful satyagraha towards August Kranti Maidan. The action drew immediate resistance from opposition leaders, with Shiv Sena(UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and party workers marching to the DN Nagar police station to demand his immediate release, the editorial said.
The editorial highlighted growing international scrutiny over India's internal security operations. The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed deep concern over the arbitrary detentions, the heavy-handed police conduct, and reports of female demonstrators being dragged into prison vans and taken to undisclosed locations. The UN urged Indian authorities to uphold the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and release all arbitrarily detained citizens. In addition, global news outlets, including The New York Times and major London dailies, featured photos of the crackdown, observing that Indian democracy faces a severe crisis.
Rebutting statements from BJP leaders and state media portraying the demonstrations as a "flop show", the Thackeray camp asserted that the government's panicked reliance on iron-fisted policing demonstrated its underlying vulnerability.
The editorial alleged a decade-long pattern of public harassment, treasury exploitation, and electoral manipulation. "When a dictator is afraid, the demon within him builds armed steel walls for self-protection, but these walls are inevitably destroyed by the rebellion of the people," the editorial declared, claiming that public outrage over governance issues has reached a tipping point.
Source: IANS
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