Jharkhand is heading for a polarised Assembly election, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raising the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration and vowing to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) banking on its tribal leadership and its demand for a separate code for the Sarna tribal religion to gain victory.

Releasing the BJP’s manifesto on November 3 in Ranchi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah promised to “identify and deport” every infiltrator and take back the “land they usurped” from the tribal people. Shah also said that the tribal communities would be kept out of the ambit of the UCC, and announced that it would be implemented adopting the Uttarakhand model.

On this part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally in Chaibasa in Kolhan division on November 4, “They are snatching your bread, they are taking away your daughters and they are also usurping your land (ye aapki roti cheen rahe hain, aapki beti bhi chcheeni rahe hain aur ye aapki maati ko bhi hadap rahe hain). It drew a sharp reaction from the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, who called it a new low after Modi’s remarks in Rajasthan and Gujarat during the Lok Sabha election about the Opposition “stealing away the Mangalsutra” and “stealing away buffaloes” from the people.

Also Read | Back as Chief Minister, Hemant Soren aims to ride sympathy wave in Jharkhand Assembly election

This was a scale-up of the BJP’s ongoing campaign in the Santhal Pargana region, which claimed that Muslims from Bangladesh were marrying tribal women and changing the demography.

Shah attributed the alleged decline in the tribal population in Jharkhand to this reason and promised to put an end to it as the BJP government did in Assam, where the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was implemented in 2018-2019.

In both Assam and Uttarakhand, the BJP has drawn flak for undermining the Muslim population but has retained power in a polarised atmosphere.

Rattled at the BJP’s attempt to create a rupture in the tribal-Muslim alliance assiduously built by the INDIA coalition in the State, Chief Minister Hemant Soren asserted that neither the UCC nor the NRC will be allowed in Jharkhand. He also said that his government would rely solely on the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) and the Santhal Pargana Act (SPT), the laws in force in the State, to protect the land ownership rights of the tribal people.

The JMM also upped the ante by promising to include the Sarna tribal religion (centred around the worship of nature) in the national census and implement a Sarna Code to govern tribal people. Four years ago, in 2020, the Jharkhand Assembly passed a resolution in its favour. Months ago when the Lok Sabha election was held, the BJP was cornered over the issue of the Sarna Code and lost all five seats reserved for the tribal communities.

With or without an alliance

In the NDA, while the BJP is contesting the majority of seats—68 out of 81—the lead alliance partner in the INDIA bloc, the JMM, is contesting only 43 seats. The Congress is contesting 30 Assembly seats as a part of the alliance and there are apprehensions that it might be the weak link, like in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh and 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.

While both the BJP and the JMM have a strong cadre base in the State, the former is also aided by the RSS. The other parties are mostly oriented around their leaders in the respective regions. But the Congress is confident of a good show. Party leader Alok Dubey said there is renewed confidence that the INDIA bloc will form the government once again.

After a strategy meeting of the party, Dubey said, “We took stock of our election preparations and various management activities for the final stretch of the campaign. We discussed ways to put our strategy into motion, from the Central and State level all the way to each booth. Our alliance is mounting a formidable campaign and we are in a strong position to form the government once again and continue the welfare and growth of Jharkhand for another five-year term.” However, Jharkhand has never re-elected an incumbent government in the past 24 years since the State was carved out from Bihar in 2000.

Of the five divisions—Kolhan, Santhal Pargana, North Chota Nagpur, South Chota Nagpur and Palamu—BJP was ahead in 2019 in only two—North Chota Nagpur and Palamu. Out of 25 seats in North Chota Nagpur, the BJP alone had won 10. It also won five out of nine assembly seats in Palamu division. Of the 14 seats in Kolhan, the BJP won none while it secured only 4 out of 18 seats in Santhal Pargana.

Out of the 15 Assembly seats in South Chota Nagpur, 11 are reserved for tribal candidates. Two of the 28 tribal reserved seats that the BJP won in 2019 were from this region. In total, the BJP got five seats in South Chota Nagpur and JMM-Congress eight. One was won by the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and one by the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) [JVM(P)].

While in Kolhan the BJP is banking on three former tribal Chief Ministers—Champai Soren, Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda—for its revival, it hopes that polarisation will work in Santhal Pargana and that the alliance with AJSU in both divisions of Chota Nagpur. Playing safe, the BJP has fielded current MLAs and former MPs in the region.

As the BJP made a desperate bid to score over the JMM in tribal politics, one was witness to the spectacle of the tribal politician Mandal Murmu—one of the proposers of Hemant Soren’s nomination and a descendant of Sido-Kanhu (Sido Murmu and Kanhu Murmu) who led the 1855 iconic Santhal protest against the British and the zamindari system—joining the BJP on November 4.

Hemant Soren is contesting from Barhait in the Santhal Pargana region, where the JMM is in a relatively strong position. Despite the BJP’s focus on issues like Bangladeshi infiltrators and with Sita Soren, the Chief Minister’s sister-in-law, leaving the JMM and joining the saffron party in March (she is now contesting from the Jamtara seat), the JMM remains resilient.

Kolhan will be crucial

The 14 Assembly seats in the Kolhan region could decide the winner in the election. The BJP, which scored a duck there in the 2019 election, has now deployed all its machinery to change the outcome. It has fielded former Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda from Potka in East Singhbhum distirict, former JMM leader and former Chief Minister Champai Soren from Saraikela, and former Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s wife Gita Koda from Jagannathpur in West Singhbhum. All these candidates are from tribal communities. Champai Soren, who left the JMM and joined the BJP in August, is a prize catch for the party. He is called ‘Kolhan Tiger’ and the JMM is trying to prove hard that the tiger is toothless.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Jharkhand CM and BJP candidate from Saraikela assembly constituency Champai Soren at a public meeting for the Jharkhand Assembly election, in Chaibasa on November 4.
| Photo Credit:
ANI

Other key seats in Kolhan are East Jamshedpur from where the BJP has fielded Purnima Sahu, the daughter in-law of former Chief Minister Raghubar Das, who was the only Jharkhand Chief Minister to have completed a full five-year term (2014 and 2019). Sahu is contesting against former Jharkhand Congress chief Ajoy Kumar, who as an IPS officer had served as Jamshedpur SP in the past.

The BJP lost the 2019 Assembly election in Jharkhand under the leadership of Das, an OBC candidate. Das himself lost to party rebel Saryu Rai, known once as the “Chanakya” of Jharkhand politics and who is now back in the NDA as the Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] candidate from Jamshedpur West.

Rai earlier contested from this seat for the BJP but, after his revolt, he shifted to Jamshedpur East in 2019 and defeated sitting Chief Minister Das.

While the JMM, which had won 11 of the 14 seats in Kolhan in the last Assembly election, has fielded 9 of its sitting MLAs, the BJP has changed candidates in 10 seats. That reveals the state of mind of both the parties in the region.

Some of the Kolhan battles are interesting. Champai Soren had won the Saraikela seat for the JMM in 2019 against the BJP’s Ganesh Mahali. With Champai joining the BJP, the JMM has inducted Mahali and fielded him against the former Chief Minister from the seat.

Feedback from the ground suggests that while it could be smooth sailing for Champai Soren in Saraikela, his son Babulal Soren might find the going tough in Ghatshila. Addressing a rally in Ghatshila on November 5, Hemant Soren’s wife and candidate from Gandey Kalpana Soren cautioned against the BJP’s “money power” but asserted that only the bow-and-arrow symbol of the JMM would work there. JMM Minister Ramdas Soren is pitted against the newbie.

Gita Koda, who is contesting from Jagannathpur, and Meera Munda, the wife of former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who is being fielded from Potka, are also strong candidates of the BJP.

Both Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Barhait in Santhal Pargana and Kalpana Soren in Gandey of North Chota Nagpur are well placed on the other side. The Gandey seat had fallen vacant after the resignation of Sarfaraz Ahmad this year and was won by Kalpana Soren in a byelection.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate from Gandey Assembly constituency Kalpana Soren interacts at a campaign meeting ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly election, at Gandey, in Giridhi on October 29.
| Photo Credit:
Somnath Sen/ANI

Hemant Soren’s brother Basant Soren’s advantage in the Dumka Assembly seat is that it has traditionally been a JMM seat. The seat has been represented by Hemant Soren umpteen times, including in 2019 when he won both the Dumka and Barhait seats. After he chose to resign from Dumka, Basant Soren won the seat in a byelection in 2020. The BJP’s Lois Marandi, who lost the seat to the JMM both times, has now joined the JMM.

Three-term MLA Sita Soren, the eldest daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Dumka on a BJP ticket after joining the party in March, is also breathing easy in the Jamtara seat. Chances of a win for Purnima Das will depend a lot on the role played by JD(U) leader Saryu Rai.

BJP state president Babulal Marandi, contesting from Dhanwar, might find the going much easier in his traditional seat as both the JMM and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) have opted for a friendly contest fielding separate candidates there. In the BJP stronghold of Ranchi, the State capital, the JMM is making a last-ditch attempt to win by fielding its Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi against six-term MLA C.P. Singh. In the last Assembly election, Singh defeated Majhi by a margin of a little over 5,000 votes. The BJP has traditionally been strong in the urban seats in Jharkhand.

Former Union Minister Rameshwar Oraon is contesting from Lohardaga on a Congress ticket. He had defeated the BJP’s Sukhdev Bhagat in the 2019 Assembly election. The number of votes he got in this tribal seat was more than the combined votes of the BJP and AJSU, which fought separately.

In Bokaro, also called the Steel City, two-term sitting BJP MLA Biranchi Narayan (BJP) will once again face Sweta Singh (Congress). Singh is the daughter-in-law of former BJP veteran Samresh Singh, who is said to have given the lotus symbol to the BJP.

In the coal belt of Dhanbad, the BJP MLA for the last two terms, Raj Sinha, will face Ajay Dubey of the Congress, who had lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the seat to the BJP’s P. N. Singh.

It’s all relative

But the more interesting battle is in the coal belt in Jharia where the warring factions of Singh Mansion (residence of the family of former MLA and coal mafia leader late Suryadeo Singh) of Dhanbad, which used to call the shots, are battling it out.

Here the contest is between the sitting MLA from the Congress Purnima Neeraj Singh—wife of former deputy mayor of Dhanbad late Neeraj Singh—and BJP’s Ragini Singh, wife of former BJP MLA Sanjeev Singh. Neeraj was murdered in 2017 and Sanjeev Singh, his cousin, was arrested in the case. The clash between the two sisters-in-law also happened in 2019. Purnima Singh had then won against Ragini Singh. Clearly, the sympathy factor worked for Purnima Singh in the 2019 Assembly election after her husband’s killing, as Sanjeev Singh, who had won the seat in 2014, was arrested.

Alliance is key to power in Jharkhand. In 2014 when the JMM and the Congress fought separately, they could win only 25 seats but after forming the alliance in 2019, their tally rose to 47. The BJP learnt it the hard way in 2019 when it did not ally with the AJSU and could win only 25 seats—a substantial decline from the 42 it had bagged in alliance with that party in 2014.

This time, both sides have strong alliances. While the BJP-AJSU has added JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to its grouping, the JMM-Congress also has the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left parties in the INDIA bloc. With Babulal Marandi back in the BJP as its State chief, his party JVM(P)’s six per cent vote share may also add to the NDA’s numbers.

The new kid on the block

The emergence of the Jairam Mahato-led Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha surprised many people with its vote share in a number of Lok Sabha seats in the last general election. Mahato belongs to the same Kudmi-Kurmi caste that is the support base of the AJSU. His politics of “locals versus outsiders”, a pale remnant of the “diku (outsider) versus native” politics during the Jharkhand movement, could disrupt the existing course and discourse of political alignments in the State.

Mahato himself had secured 3.47 lakh votes when he contested from the Giridih Lok Sabha seat. This time, he is contesting from the Dumri Assembly seat and many people are sure that he will win.

The Kurmis, accounting for nearly 14 per cent of the votes, can tilt the balance in over 30 of the 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand, particularly in the districts of Ranchi, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur and Giridih.

Also Read | Jharkhand: Defeat in all Lok Sabha seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes could hurt BJP in Assembly elections

Tribal people account for 26.21 per cent of Jharkhand’s population and have 28 seats reserved for them. The JMM had won 19 of them, the Congress 6, the BJP 2 and Marandi’s JVM(P) 1. Despite Marandi now being with the BJP, the party could not win even a single of the five Lok Sabha seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. And Hemant Soren is now out of prison.

Women voters outnumber men in 32 Assembly constituencies. Out of these 32, 26 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, which means only 2 other seats reserved for STs have more male voters. Men migrate to other cities for work, especially from the tribal and Dalit segments; hence women’s votes are important. That possibly explains why the BJP has fielded more women this time, though most of them are from political families.

The BJP has pitched the Gogo Didi Yojana to counter the JMM-led alliance government’s Maiyan Samman Yojana to attract female voters. The BJP has promised in its manifesto that it would transfer Rs 2,100 per month to the bank accounts of women, under the scheme, after forming the government.

Under the Maiyan Samman Yojana, Rs 1,000 per month is credited to the accounts of over 50 lakh women in the State. Chief minister Hemant Soren said that the amount would be increased to Rs 2,500 every month from December, if his party is voted to power again.

Polarisation and promises apart, people in the tribal state are looking for a real change in their fortune. Will the politicians live up to the expectations? 

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he has received assurances at the ‘highest level’ in New Delhi that the commitments made to the Union Territory with regard to governance model will change.

The hybrid model of governance, Abdullah said, is temporary and the statehood status for Jammu and Kashmir will be restored soon.

“I would tell you in no uncertain terms that there is zero tolerance for this [corruption]. But I am also acutely aware that we have unfortunately at the moment rather hybrid system of operating. And I have a feeling, and I am going to say regardless of the consequences some may feel they can exploit the system for their advantage, that they can find loopholes in this system that we have in J&K at the moment,” Adbullah is heard saying while addressing administrative secretaries in Srinagar. The ministers are also seen in the video sitting next to Abdullah.

Abdullah also administered an integrity pledge to the bureaucrats on the occasion. 

“But please rest assured. This is a temporary phase. I have just come back from very successful meetings from New Delhi. I have received assurances at the highest level that the commitments made to J&K particularly with regard to governance model will change,” the Chief Minister, who recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, during his Delhi trip.

Loopholes to end soon

“And therefore, if there is anybody who believes that somehow that UT will shield you from the consequences of practices which goes against this pledge, please remember the shield may last temporarily. But it is only temporary. Once the full statehood to J&K is restored there will be no loopholes to exploit or any advantages to be taken by playing against one another,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah’s National Conference won the recent Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, clinching 42 out of 90 seats. This was the first elections in the union territory in a decade and also first assembly election after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.

Abdullah was sworn in as the Chief Minister on October 16, making him first CM of the Union Territory.

This is a temporary phase. I have just come back from very successful meetings from New Delhi.

The Modi government is likely to initiate the process of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, five years after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The first step in the direction may come during the Winter Session of Parliament in November-December, according to some reports.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured Chief Minister Omar Abdullah the centre’s full support to the newly elected government, a report in NDTV said quoting sources.

BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty—a Bollywood actor-turned-politician—on Sunday further heated up the already charged political atmosphere in West Bengal by responding with a message of violence against a statement made by TMC leader Humayun Kabir before the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Referring to a pre-Lok Sabha election comment by the Trinamool’s Humayun Kabir, in which he threatened the rival party workers on religious grounds and was reprimanded by the Election Commission, Chakraborty called on the saffron party workers to “chop them up and bury them underground.”

“A leader says there are 70 per cent Muslims and 30 per cent Hindus (and) that he will ‘cut’ and throw them in the Bhagirathi… I thought the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) would say something. She didn’t.. so now I am saying, we will chop them (up) and bury them in the ground..” NDTV quoted Chakraborty as saying.

“I am not the Chief Minister… but I am saying this,” the BJP leader said days before the by-polls for six Assembly seats next month, “We will do anything to win the masnad (throne) of Bengal… it will belong to the BJP after the 2026 Assembly election.”

The Bollywood actor was speaking at an event inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to launch the BJP membership drive in West Bengal.

“I am saying it again and again… we will do anything (to win the 2026 election) anything. I am saying this with Home Minister Amit Shahji sitting here – we will do anything,” Chakraborty said.

“I say we will cut you up and throw you, not in the Bhagirathi because that is our mother, but we will throw you in the ground,” the Bollywood actor added.

Chakraborty accused the Bengal state government of not allowing the Hindu community to cast votes.

Mithun’s inciting statement followed similar inflammatory remarks by TMC leader Humayun Kabin who had threatened the Hindu community living in the state while campaigning for a party candidate Murshidabad in May 2024, days before the Lok Sabha polls.

The TMC leader reportedly said at a rally, “You are 30 per cent (of the people here) but we are 70 per cent… if you think you can demolish mosques and Muslims will sit back and relax… (you are wrong). I will leave politics if I don’t drown you people in the Bhagirathi…”

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The Union government is likely to initiate the process of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, five years after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured Chief Minister Omar Abdullah the centre’s full support to the newly elected government, a report in NDTV said quoting sources. Omar met Shah in Delhi on Wednesday.

“The meeting that lasted half an hour was held in a very cordial atmosphere. The home minister assured the centre’s full support to the newly elected government and to initiate the process of restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir,” the NDTV report quoted a source as saying.

Abdullah-led J&K cabinet passed a resolution demanding the restoration of statehood in its first cabinet meeting held last week.

Abdullah to meet PM Modi

Abdullah is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and submit a copy of the resolution to him as well. The resolution also emphasises on the J&K government’s commitment to protect the identity and constitutional rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The home minister assured the centre’s full support to the newly elected government.

Following the scrapping of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded to a UT.

Elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly were held in three phases, from September 18 to October 1, resulting in the formation of a government by the National Conference-Congress alliance.

Before taking the oath, Omar Abdullah had said that the first task of his government would be to become the voice of the people. Earlier, Congress leader P Chidambaram had also expressed that ‘first task of the new government should be to demand the restoration of statehood to J-K’, and all the INDIA parties should support it.

On the 10th day of his “Delhi Chalo Padyatra”, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk shared videos on social media after crossing Taglang La, one of the highest mountain passes in the world at 17,482 feet. A clip showed him leading a foot march with tribal indigenous people from Leh to Delhi, trekking through snowy mountains and winding rivers. Displaying the peeling skin on his feet, Wangchuk addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the citizens of the country, saying, “These blisters are a plea to honour your promises.”

Wangchuk was referring to the ruling BJP’s commitment to grant Ladakh constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule, first made during the 2019 Lok Sabha election and later during the 2020 Hill Development Council elections after the region was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made into a Centrally ruled Union Territory without a legislature. He quoted this following couplet from a famous Urdu ghazal written by Parwaz Jalandhari:

Jin ke honton pe hansi paanv mein chhale honge,

haan vahi log tumhein chahne vaale honge!

(Those who have a smile on their lips and blisters on their feet—yes, those people will be your admirers.)

On September 30 evening, he was detained at the Haryana-Delhi border along with his 150 companions amid heavy security bandobast. The detentions came in the wake of the Delhi police commissioner’s order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (formerly Section 144 of CrPC). One of the reasons cited in the order referred to the Assembly election in Haryana. Ironically, the detentions coincide with the 15th reprieve granted to godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the last four years since his conviction for rape and murder.

Also Read | Why the lotus wilted in Ladakh

Meanwhile, Ladakh MP Haji Hanifa, who had gone to Singhu border to meet the marchers, has also been detained.

Shut down in Ladakh

Wangchuk, backed by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), two representative organisations from Ladakh, had set out on the foot march on September 1. It was scheduled to culminate at Rajghat on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2.

Reacting to the detentions, Ladakh erupted in protest and observed a complete shutdown on October 1. A number of people took to the streets in Leh and Kargil as they raised slogans against the Delhi Police action. “It is a blatant violation of our fundamental rights. It is an affront not only on democratic rights but also to the dignity of the people of Ladakh,” the KDA said in a statement.

The LAB has expressed shock over the police action, vowing to intensify their struggle for Ladakh’s constitutional and environmental rights.

The LAB and KDA have been spearheading an agitation for the past four years to demand statehood for Ladakh along with constitutional safeguards, a public service commission and separate Lok Sabha seats for the Leh and Kargil regions. “My motivation for joining the movement is rooted in environmental concerns. The fragile hills and mountains of Ladakh could be exposed to unchecked industrial and mining interests,” Wangchuk told Frontline during an interview, days before he undertook the long march. Earlier this year, he had held a 21-day hunger strike raising these demands.

Detainees go on fast

At present, the detainees have been lodged in three different police stations at Delhi’s Bawana, Narela Industrial Area and Rohini. On October 1, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi said she wasn’t allowed to meet Wangchuk at Bawana police station.

“What is extremely painful is not the wounds we sustained while marching toward Delhi, but the way the central government responded to our peaceful demonstration with its full might,” an aide of Wangchuk told Frontline over the phone from Bawana police station.

He also complained about the “unhygienic place” where they were detained. “The floor was littered with pigeon poop and dust. In the morning, we cleaned the floor on our own,” he said, adding that Wangchuk was separated from the others at Bawana police station and wasn’t allowed to meet his lawyers.

Frontline managed to speak to detainees in two other police stations as well. Agitated over the police action, they have launched an indefinite fast. They said that the office of Wangchuk in Leh had emailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking an appointment but to no avail.

A woman marcher, who has been detained in Rohini, said 19 women were held there.

“Many elderly men and women in their 80s and a few dozen Army veterans… Our fate is unknown. We were on a most peaceful march to Bapu’s Samadhi… in the largest democracy in the world, the mother of democracy…,” Wangchuk wrote on X minutes before he was detained at Singhu border and his phone confiscated.

Sajjad Kargili, a member of the KDA who too has been detained, wrote on X: “We are frontline warriors, not traitors. We are simply demanding the rights you have taken from us—our statehood, safeguards, and employment. Now, even our right to protest is being stripped away.”

Controversial order

Several organisations, including the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Campaign Against State Repression, criticised the “arbitrary” prohibitory order issued by the Delhi police for six days. In a statement, the PUCL has urged Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to revoke the order banning “the constitutionally guaranteed right to assembly.”

In a joint statement, PUCL national president Kavita Srivastava and general secretary V Suresh asked the Commissioner to stop the “misuse of powers” under Section 163 of BNSS to silence dissent and democratic expression.

“On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, declared as the International Day of Non-violence, this action of the Delhi police and the government against peaceful protesters and satyagrahis signals to the increasing dangers involved in public action and advocacy,” the statement said. “It is not only a violation of constitutional freedoms under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, but an undermining of our democracy and curb on public participation of active citizenry, which cannot be allowed”.

Political outrage

The police action has evoked sharp reactions from political parties. Stressing that the Modi government didn’t keep the promises made to the people of Ladakh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abduallh said, “A government that couldn’t stop the Chinese incursion instead stops its own citizens from peacefully entering their national capital city.”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the detentions as “unacceptable”. Posting on social media platform X, he wrote: “Modi ji, like with the farmers, this ‘Chakravyuh’ will be broken, and so will your arrogance. You will have to listen to Ladakh’s voice.”

Also Read | There is a significant democratic deficit in Ladakh: Sonam Wangchuk

Wondering if Delhi was a “dictator’s fortress where common people couldn’t enter,” Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “Such undemocratic actions are totally unacceptable in a democracy.” In response to a tweet put out by Sonam Wangchuk, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “Everyone has the right to come to the national capital.”

Petitions filed

On October 1, at least two petitions were filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the release of Wangchuk and his supporters without delay. According to legal news website Live Law, the petition seeks permission to allow the group of individuals, including senior citizens led by Wangchuk, to enter the national capital for raising their demands peacefully. The pleas are likely to be heard on October 3.

Terming their detentions “illegal”, a detainee said: “The 24-hour period is already over. They cannot keep us further without producing [us] before a magistrate.” He elaborated, “Some groups were released for a bit but they were detained again after a few minutes. At some places people were taken in a bus and after a few rounds were brought back to the same place.”

Another aide of Wangchuk stated in a message: “Today, October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, we had intended to visit Rajghat to pay our respects. Instead, we find our rights trampled upon on a day that symbolises peace and democracy.”

As the padyatris lodged in different police stations complain about the Modi government’s overreach and the ruling BJP’s radio silence, one is reminded of the last couplet in Parwaz Jalandhari’s ghazal:

Ham bade naaz se aae the teri mahfil mein,

kya ḳhabar thi lab-e-izhaar pe taale honge

(We came to your assembly with great pride, Who thought you would put a lock on our lips.)

It has been a year of unusually intense political activity in Jammu and Kashmir. The erstwhile State, now a Union Territory, saw record turnout in the Lok Sabha election and is now holding its first Assembly election in ten years. In an interview with Frontline in Srinagar, Omar Abdullah, vice president of the National Conference, former Chief Minister, and a candidate himself (from Ganderbal and Budgam Assembly constituencies) speaks about the revocation of Article 370, the restoration of statehood, the BJP’s electoral tactics in the region, and more. Excerpts: