{"id":667615,"date":"2026-10-11T23:22:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T03:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/?p=667615"},"modified":"2026-10-11T23:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T03:30:31","slug":"ioc-usa-slams-crackdown-on-peaceful-protesters-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/667615\/","title":{"rendered":"IOC USA Slams Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>New York, October 11, 2026: The Indian Overseas Congress USA strongly condemns the extraordinary measures taken by authorities in New Delhi to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional right to peaceful protest. Denying permission for demonstrations, detaining leaders and activists before they could reach protest sites, restricting transportation, shutting down mobile internet services, and deploying tens of thousands of security personnel, including central forces, are measures one would hardly expect from a country that proudly calls itself the world\u2019s largest democracy. Amnesty International has also criticized these restrictions as disproportionate and has called upon the Delhi Police to facilitate, rather than obstruct, peaceful assembly.<\/p>\n

One has to ask what the government is so afraid of. These are Indian citizens inquiring about the electoral system and demanding answers from the Election Commission. They may be right or wrong in every allegation they make, but they certainly have the right to ask those questions. In a democracy, governments are not expected to fear peaceful dissent. They are expected to answer it.<\/p>\n

The situation becomes even more disturbing when reports and video footage show protesters, including women and young people, being confronted and assaulted by individuals associated with right-wing organizations. Delhi Police subsequently arrested four men who were reported to have links with the Hindu Raksha Dal in connection with assaults on protesters. At the same time, the head of that organization reportedly claimed responsibility for attacks. There have also been questions about whether police personnel present at some of these incidents did enough to protect those who were being attacked. These are serious matters and deserve an impartial investigation.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to understand why peaceful demonstrations required the deployment of the Border Security Force, CRPF, RAF and large numbers of police personnel. Mobile internet services were interrupted around the protest area, metro stations were closed, train movements were affected, and protesters were prevented from reaching the capital. Leaders of the so-called Cockroach Janta Party were detained upon arrival in Delhi, and journalists, lawyers, elected representatives and large numbers of demonstrators were also reportedly taken into custody.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court itself found enough reason to intervene and directed that peaceful and unarmed protesters should not be unlawfully detained. It also called for normal functioning of metro, railway and internet services. When the country’s highest court has to remind the authorities that peaceful protesters have constitutional rights, one has to wonder how far we have strayed from the democratic tenets on which the Republic was founded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a government seals roads, interrupts internet services, restricts trains and metro operations, deploys massive security forces and detains people simply because they want to question those in authority, India begins to look less like the world\u2019s largest democracy and more like a banana republic under authoritarian rule,\u201d said George Abraham, Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress USA.<\/p>\n

India did not receive its freedom as a gift. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and countless freedom fighters spent years in prison and made enormous sacrifices so that later generations could live as free citizens. Gandhi, in particular, taught the world that peaceful protest and civil disobedience were legitimate instruments against injustice. What an irony it would be if the country that gave the world that message now treats peaceful protesters as a threat to the state.<\/p>\n

There is also the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. More than 13 crore names have reportedly been removed during the revision process. The Election Commission has stated that many of these entries fall under categories such as deceased, shifted, duplicate or otherwise unverifiable voters, and it maintains that procedures exist for eligible citizens to seek restoration. However, the extraordinary scale of the deletions and complaints from political parties, civil-society groups and ordinary citizens require far greater transparency.<\/p>\n

This is precisely where the Election Commission should remove all doubts. If the process is fair, there should be no hesitation in publishing the relevant information, state by state, and providing an effective procedure for every eligible voter who believes that their name was wrongly deleted. When millions of citizens begin to suspect that their voting rights may be affected, police barricades and preventive arrests are hardly the answer. Transparency is.<\/p>\n

There are allegations that the SIR exercise could benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Those allegations should not simply be accepted as fact, but neither should they be dismissed without proper examination. The Election Commission must be willing to subject the process to examination and demonstrate that electoral rolls are being revised impartially and that no eligible citizen is being denied the right to vote.<\/p>\n

At this stage, however, the controversy has gone past individual allegations. Confidence in the Election Commission itself has been seriously questioned by large numbers of citizens who have taken to the streets demanding answers. IOC USA therefore calls upon Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign and step aside to re-establish confidence in the institution. The credibility of the Election Commission is far more important than the retention of any individual in office. When public faith in the election referee is seriously damaged, renewing confidence in the institution must become the first priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cElections are the foundation of a democracy. If people begin to lose belief in the electoral rolls, in the Election Commission and in their ability to peacefully question those institutions, then the damage goes far beyond one election or one political party,\u201d Abraham said.<\/p>\n

What is particularly troubling is the combination of official restrictions and reports of vigilante activity, and no organization, whether religious or political, should be permitted to assault citizens exercising their lawful rights. If individuals claiming to act in the name of Hindutva are allowed to confront peaceful protesters while the police appear ineffective or selective in their response, it inevitably calls into question the secular and democratic character of the state.<\/p>\n

India cannot invoke Gandhi abroad while repressing peaceful dissent at home. It cannot celebrate Nehru\u2019s democratic inheritance while treating protesters as enemies of the state. Moreover, it cannot continue to advertise itself as the world\u2019s largest democracy if citizens are detained for requesting accountability from constitutional institutions.<\/p>\n

Democracy is more than conducting an election every five years. It requires a credible Election Commission, an independent judiciary, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and, above all, the right of ordinary citizens to disagree with those in power without fear of detention or violence.<\/p>\n

The Indian Overseas Congress USA therefore urges the Government of India and the Delhi Police to respect the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, stop arbitrary and preventive detentions, investigate allegations of vigilante violence and any failures by police personnel to protect protesters, and comply fully with the directions of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

IOC USA also calls upon the Election Commission of India to ensure maximum transparency in the SIR process and to make sure that every eligible citizen has a meaningful and timely opportunity to remain on or be restored to the electoral rolls.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s democratic institutions were built through enormous sacrifice. It would be tragic if the independence fought for by Gandhi, Nehru and countless others were slowly thrown into the dustbin of history because those temporarily in power became unwilling to tolerate dissent.<\/p>\n

Governments come and go. Political parties win and lose elections. However, the democratic and secular structure of India belongs to the people and must survive them all.<\/p>\n

Issued by:
\nGeorge Abraham, Vice-Chairman, Indian Overseas Congress USA
\nOctober 11, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York, October 11, 2026: The Indian Overseas Congress USA strongly condemns the extraordinary measures taken by authorities in New Delhi to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional right to peaceful protest. Denying permission for demonstrations, detaining leaders and activists before they could reach protest sites, restricting transportation, shutting down mobile internet services, and deploying tens of thousands of security personnel, including central forces, are measures one would hardly expect from a country that proudly calls itself the world\u2019s largest democracy. Amnesty International has also criticized these restrictions as disproportionate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":667620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47743],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667615"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667622,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667615\/revisions\/667622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}