Police arrested five more people on Saturday, 10 March, for allegedly waving black flags at a public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan on 8 March. This brings the total number of arrested people to eight. Prime Minister Modi was in Jhunjunu to launch the National Nutrition Mission and extend the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign.
The arrested were produced in a local court on Saturday; six were given a day’s custody while two are to be produced before a magistrate on Sunday. According to media reports, the police made the arrests on charges of rioting (Section 147), obstructing police personnel in discharging their duties (Section 186), assaulting to deter public servants (Section 353) and endangering the life and safety of others (Section 336) under the Indian Penal Code.
The arrested persons are contractual workers on administrative posts in the National Heath Mission department who had been demanding tenured jobs from CM Vasundhara Raje for some time, but the latter was yet to give them an appointment. During the meeting, when she got up to speak, the people started sloganeering and waving black flags and banners throughout her speech. A number of BJP workers and police personnel were seen trying to calm the crowd to no avail.
This is the first time black flags have been waved in protest at the PM’s convention in Rajasthan. The Prime Minister has held three public meetings in the state until now, in Udaipur, Barmer and Suratgarh.
(With inputs from Etemaad Daily)
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