Published Oct 10, 2026 | 10:06 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 10, 2026 | 12:08 PM
Delhi Police entered the Air India plane in which Abhijeet Dipke was travelling and detained him and his fellow CJP leaders.
Hours before anyone reached Jantar Mantar on Saturday, October 10, Fortress Delhi was already under its biggest lockdown since COVID.
More than 26,000 boots were on the ground, and everywhere you looked, you saw a sea of barricades. Delhi Police prepared 12 detention centres. And they were filling them up quickly, with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke being picked up from the plane on which he arrived in Delhi.
“You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight. This is something not even Indira Gandhi had done. This is dictatorship when Delhi Police has entered the flight and is trying to arrest us,” Dipke said, before being led off.
Other protesters were arrested from trains. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan had already asked police chiefs across all states and Union Territories to coordinate with Delhi Police. Among others detained were YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and top CPM leaders, including former Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Brinda Karat.
Earlier, with more than 1,000 people already detained overnight in Delhi, Dipke had taken to X to say, “Modi has accepted defeat even before our protest has begun.”
The protest, called by the CJP and backed by Left student groups, trade unions and others, is demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Police were deployed across New Delhi from early morning. Barricades came up in student neighbourhoods, including Vijay Nagar near Delhi University and Jamia Nagar near Jamia Millia Islamia, and personnel were posted outside all major residential campuses. At Jawaharlal Nehru University, barricades were installed around midnight, and students came out and staged a protest on the spot.
Forty-five metro stations were shut, and the internet was suspended. Some runways at the airport were also closed, with authorities monitoring arrivals.
Among the day’s dramatic developments, Delhi Police entered the Air India plane in which Abhijeet Dipke was travelling and detained him and his fellow CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka as soon as they landed.
“How did you get into the flight?” Dipke asked the officers before heading off with his fellow leaders, raising slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.
The CJP was quick to condemn the “authoritarian detention”.
“This pre-planned interception by the Delhi Police aims to cripple the leadership of today’s peaceful demonstrations before they even reach the protest site. The CJP denounces this blatant violation of freedom of movement and demands the immediate, unconditional release of Dipke, Das, and Ranka,” they said.
The CJP had held back through the morning. Sources had said then that they would wait for Dipke, Das and Ranka.
On the ground, the shutdown had cut its cadre off. A CJP zonal coordinator told South First that, with the internet down, they were unsure how to head to Jantar Mantar.
Before Dipke’s detention, several CPI(M) central committee members staying at Kerala House, on the same road as Jantar Mantar, attempted to march to the protest site.
Former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was among these leaders. Many who were with him, including CPM General Secretary MA Baby, were immediately detained by police.
Pinarayi, John Brittas and former Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal alone marched ahead after a standoff with the cops. The trio raised slogans of “Down, down, police raj. Down, down fascism.”
“Gyanesh Kumar step down. See Amit Shah we are heading to Jantar Mantar,” they said, approaching the barricades blocking Jantar Mantar from Kerala House.
“This is a murder of democracy,” Pinarayi told reporters. “What is this? Why is the government doing all this? Is this a democracy or a police state? There must be respect for democracy. Gyanesh Kumar must resign. Democracy must be restored. All supporters of democracy will unite behind this, and this protest will only grow.”
“A gathering of more than four people is not allowed,” a Delhi Police officer told CPM’s Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, when he tried to argue that there were only three of them.
“Please, sir. Hear me. Any type of march is not allowed. If you are participating in any type of march, that is a problem,” the officer went on to say, before detaining Pinarayi, Brittas and Balagopal.
CPM leaders Brinda Karat, KK Shailaja and women leaders were also detained.
More leaders were expected to join the protests later in the day.
Trade unions, women’s organisations and kisan organisations had said they would join the protests as well.
The SFI and DYFI, meanwhile, had gathered their student and youth cadre at two offices, AKG Bhawan and HKS Bhawan.
Sources in other Left organisations, including the AISF, said they would also head to Jantar Mantar, stage an agitation and face possible detention.
AISA and a few other organisations had members inside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, close to Jantar Mantar. They were expected to come out around 11 am and were likely to be detained immediately, as police had stationed a large force and more than 45 buses there.
The developments have made it clear that Saturday is shaping up to be a day of detentions.
The protesting organisations are moving without communication between them. Student areas have been effectively sealed. The might of the state is on full display. But will this excessive use of brute force backfire on the Centre? It’s a question that those at the helm must reflect on.
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Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi and the march of folly: The same mistake, fifty years apart
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
