INDIA bloc marches through Delhi, takes SIR protest to SC

On a day when Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, a sizeable crowd walked down arterial roads in the capital, tailing a procession of buses carrying INDIA bloc leaders from Constitution Club to the Supreme Court, where Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders of the coalition filed a petition over the alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The Congress, on its social media handles, said 2.5 lakh people participated in the protest. The “March for Democracy”, which began at 1.30 p.m. at the Constitution Club, went on for more than four hours, mostly unhindered by police barricades and intervention, and also allowing for an occasional break for the protesters from waving flags and sloganeering at ice cream and juice carts. The march had several such light moments, including when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge donned a Batman mask. There was heavy deployment of police, who stood on the sidelines watching.

Despite a proposal from INDIA bloc leaders that only the national flag should be flown, Congress flags dominated the scene. Flags of Left student bodies, CPI(M)’s SFI, CPI’s AISF and CPI(ML)’s AISA, could also be seen.

A majority of the protesters were Congress supporters who had travelled from different parts of the country, from Salma Begum, who came from Koraput in Odisha on her maiden trip to Delhi, to Mayank Chaudhary, a former Youth Congress leader leading a cavalcade of SUVs from Badkal, Haryana, slipping by police barricades on the way, or Sabo Meena, who came from Dausa donning a bright yellow scarf.

The lead bus in the procession had a carefully selected mix of INDIA bloc leaders to present a united front, with Congress’s K.C. Venugopal standing at the landing waving at the crowd, and the front row occupied by Mr. Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. The bus also had Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut, Trinamool’s Saugata Ray, CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, and CPI leader P. Sandosh Kumar. AISA president Neha Bora and former president Sai Balaji were also there. SFI leader Aishe Ghosh was on the bus.

The protesters who walked alongside the buses waved at the leaders. Every time Mr. Gandhi stood up, a loud cheer ensued. Several ran with their cameras held aloft at the sight of Ms. Bora, a recognisable face of the student movement.

Mr. Kharge had requested all parties to inform their parliamentarians to reach the Constitution Club at 1 p.m. Despite the coordination difficulties, there was a wide assembly of leaders. Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among the leaders who gathered there. She did not join the procession, having to return to Kolkata. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who reached Delhi only after 2 p.m., joined the protest around 4 p.m., for the last stretch of the march.

After winding through central Delhi and doubling back via Mandi House, the procession was finally stopped by the police near the Supreme Court. Several leaders, including Mr. Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Tejashwi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav, climbed atop a vehicle for the last leg of the march, which rang with slogans against the government and the Chief Election Commissioner.

Several top Congress leaders, including Sachin Pilot, were seen marching along with the protesters.

Thirty-six-year-old Ms. Salma, who left her two children behind in Koraput to fly down to Delhi, said, “I have come to meet Rahul Gandhi.” She had been waiting since morning to catch a glimpse of her leader.

A few steps away, Ms. Meena said she had come to Delhi to save the country. “Desh khatre mein hai, isko Modi ji se mukt karna hai (the country is in danger; it needs to be freed from Modi),” she said.

Davinder Singh came from Jalandhar, Punjab, dressed as the mythical god of death, Yamraj, and explained his sartorial choice, saying: “I am here to remind the government, which is stealing our votes, that they too have to face their makers.”

Amid all this rhetoric, Narayan Saha made a brisk sale of papads, ₹20 a pop. His basket emptied rapidly. He was not as bothered about the SIR as the crowd around him appeared to be. Instead, he was worried that his brother’s name had been cut from the ration card back home in Sitamarhi, Bihar.

“In my village, many people are no longer receiving pensions, which is worrying considering the inflation,” he said.