Shekhar Suman defends people’s right to protest peacefully: ‘Part of society’

Shekhar Suman has defended people’s right to protest peacefully amid the ongoing demonstrations in the country demanding the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“Protest toh dekhiye, politics ka hissa hai aur society ka bhi ek hissa hai. Protest toh hum tab se karte hain, jab hum bade hote hain. Jab humein kuch nahi milta, toh hum ghar mein protest shuru kar dete hain ki humein yeh chahiye, woh chahiye,” Shekhar Suman said during his recent appearance on The Lallantop.

“Agar aapki maangein poori nahi ho rahi hain, toh protest karna shuru kijiye. Jab janta ki ek saamuhik awaaz uthti hai, toh sarkar bhi us par thodi tawajjo deti hai, thoda dhyaan deti hai. Aur yeh hota rehna chahiye,” he further said, citing the example of Mahatma Gandhi.

He also said that protests were a positive thing in society, “Har insaan ko apni jagah, apne mukaam par, jahan bhi woh hai, jis bhi cheez ke liye zaroorat ho, uske liye protest karna chahiye. I see it as a very positive thing in society.”

Concluding his remarks, Shekhar emphasised that protests are entirely justified when the opposition senses systemic failure and seeks answers regarding electoral credibility.

Shekhar’s remarks came amid heightened security across the national capital. Several party leaders and activists were detained by the police. Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained after their flight landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora was also detained while protesting at Dilli Haat in the INA area.

The protests continued on Sunday as well. A march of the Opposition parties to the Supreme Court is planned on Monday.