Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk gave the government a 24-hour ultimatum on October 10 to release those detained in Delhi, saying an indefinite fast and a foot march to Delhi will begin if they are not freed unconditionally by the next morning.
The ultimatum widens the circle. The protest began with the Cockroach Janta Party’s call against the Chief Election Commissioner, and it now includes opposition leaders, lawyers, journalists, a UN statement of concern and a voice from Ladakh.
Wangchuk framed the issue as constitutional, saying that suppressing peaceful, democratic voices is a direct assault on the Constitution, according to The Week.
The timeline is tight: the deadline ends on the morning of October 11, when the CJP plans another march and the Supreme Court hears a contempt plea over the Metro closures.
The government had not responded in the reports, and Wangchuk’s separate one-year deadline on Ladakh’s political demands is a different matter.
Wangchuk said that suppressing peaceful, democratic voices is a direct assault on the Constitution.
Delhi Police detained hundreds of people on October 10 as the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar was blocked.
Opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal were also detained, and reports said some were released by evening.
The CJP’s founder and two leaders were detained at Delhi airport, and the party said that it lost contact with them for about 10 hours.
Counts of those detained range from hundreds to more than 7,000 in different reports and could not be reconciled.
Delhi Police has not publicly commented on the detentions, according to PTI.
The UN human rights office said that it was concerned by reports of mass detentions and urged the release of anyone arbitrarily detained.
The INDIA bloc submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu on October 9 listing its demands to end the agitation against the Chief Election Commissioner.
Leh, Ladakh (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0