NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor late Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by sharing his 2015 tweet about the Emergency. Tharoor drew a parallel with the current situation in Delhi, where police cracked down on protesters demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.“Thanks for teaching today’s youngsters many of the same lessons, Modiji!” Tharoor wrote on X while sharing Modi’s post dated June 25, 2015. In the old tweet, Modi had said, “Personally, the Emergency brings back many memories. As youngsters, we learnt a lot during the anti-Emergency movement.”Tharoor’s jibe came on a day of heightened security, mass detentions and a political showdown in the national capital, where a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was met with a heavy police deployment. 7,000 people were detained (and later released), including several Opposition leaders, while 45 Metro stations were closed till 10pm amid extensive security arrangements.Earlier in the day, Tharoor had criticised the government over the restrictions, describing the situation as a “war-like deployment” and saying that “our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ”.The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he had returned to Delhi after 2 am and had rarely witnessed anything like the security measures in place across the capital. He cited checkpoints, concrete barricades, spike strips, the deployment of 22,000 police and paramilitary personnel, cancelled train services and reports of young people being detained.Questioning the suspension of internet services in the heart of the national capital and restrictions on access to Jantar Mantar, Tharoor said the government should answer questions about the integrity of elections rather than prevent citizens from raising them.“The government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression,” he said, adding that barricades would do nothing to restore public faith in the Election Commission.The CJP protest had triggered a wider political confrontation, with Opposition leaders accusing the government of suppressing democratic dissent, while the BJP accused protest organisers of attempting to destabilise the country.
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Delhi Police sources told ANI that all detainees had been released from detention centres except CJP leaders, for whom due legal process would be followed. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a contempt petition on Sunday over allegations that the closure of Metro stations violated its October 9 order.
