Delhi: Students, Activists Protest Against Communal Sloganeering; Many Detained

After incendiary slogans were raised against the Muslim community at Jantar Mantar over the weekend, student activists and civil society members gathered in the national capital to protest.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

After incendiary slogans were raised against the Muslim community at Jantar Mantar over the weekend, student activists and civil society members gathered in the national capital to protest on Tuesday, 10 August.

Around 100 demonstraters were detained by the police when they tried to move towards Jantar Mantar, news agency PTI reported.

However, as per reports, the detainees were released later during the day.

Videos of the rally, depicting a large crowd of people shouting inflammatory, violence-inciting slogans in unison, were widely circulated on social media over the weekend.

Consequently, the Delhi Police registered a case in the matter on Monday, 9 August, and arrested six people, including former BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, Vinod Sharma, Vineet Kranti, and Preet Singh for their alleged involvement.

In a statement on Tuesday, the All India Students' Association (AISA) said,

"Delhi police has detained AISA activists and other protesters form Jantar Mantar who gathered to protest against the hate mongering by BJP-RSS. Whilst their hate gathering was allowed to continue, the protest call for Justice and against communal bigotry was abrupted by Delhi Police by detaining students, activists and people of Delhi. Shame on Delhi Police!"

All India Students' Association

As per police officials, the protesters did not acquire the permission required to hold demonstrations and continued to protest even as the police urged them to disperse, PTI reported.

A statement from the Students Islamic Organisation of India condemned the course of action taken by the Delhi Police and iterated,

"It's reprehensible that the police let a large hateful Hindutva mob gather in the heart of the city and allowed to spew anti-Muslim venom, including calls for violence, with complete impunity. While it took the police two days to identify and detain the vile inciters, they took no time to apprehend a small gathering of peaceful protesters."

Students Islamic Organisation of India

It added, "We condemn this high-handedness and blatant patronage of bigotry by Delhi Police. We demand that the detained activists must be immediately released, and those who are openly advocating bloodshed must be booked under stringent sections of the law."

Meanwhile, members of Students' Federation of India (SFI) stated that the protest aimed to give voice to the resistance against communal polarisation and reinforce the ideas of secularism and harmony.

(With inputs from PTI)