The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday witnessed a political showdown over the Delhi Police’s entry into the Communist Party of India (Marxist) headquarters in New Delhi to arrest student activist Aishe Ghosh, with leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge alleging abuse of power and Union minister JP Nadda maintaining that it was a routine law-and-order action.
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Raising the issue in the House, Kharge questioned the legality of the police action and demanded accountability from those who authorised it.
“It is very shameful that CBI, police officials can enter the office of a national political party like this. Democracy is not safe; people are not safe. Therefore, I request you, that the people who went there should be punished… Who were they? Who ordered them to go there?” Kharge said.
CPI(M) MP John Brittas alleged that a Delhi Police team entered AKG Bhavan, the party’s national headquarters, on Tuesday to arrest Ghosh, former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and a leader of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
“Yesterday a Delhi Police team barged into AKG Bhavan… It was to arrest Aishe Ghosh, who is a former JNUSU president. Her only mistake was that she participated in the Jantar Mantar agitation,” Brittas alleged.
According to police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, the team had entered the premises to execute a non-bailable warrant issued in connection with a 2021 protest outside Bangalore Bhavan. CPI(M) leaders, however, alleged that the police had violated established procedures, with Brittas claiming the action was retaliation for Ghosh’s role in the recent protests in central Delhi.
Brittas said he sought an explanation from the police regarding the basis of the arrest.
“They [police] said there was a case pending against her. I asked about the case. They said it was a 2021 case with regard to a certain protest on the JNU campus,” he said.
He further alleged that the police personnel were not in uniform when they entered the party office.
“The shocking thing is that they came without uniforms. The 1997 case and the SOP of Delhi Police state that the Delhi Police has to be identified. They want to spread fear amongst the youngsters,” Brittas said, while demanding an explanation from the Union home ministry.
Responding to the allegations, Nadda rejected the Opposition’s criticism and described the police action as part of a routine law-and-order process.
“They are trying to sensationalise the matter. It is a normal law-and-order activity which the police undertake. Any student activist who wants to do activism should face this,” Nadda said.
Drawing a comparison with his own experience during the Emergency, Nadda added, “I have been a student activist. I have been arrested many times from the classroom in Emergency days, when the Congress party was ruling.”
“It is a normal situation a student activist must face. Forced to take law and order into their own hands, the police must act accordingly; and the police did act accordingly,” he said.
