{"id":2635,"date":"2026-07-21T10:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kapilgupta.in\/blog\/?p=2635"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:38:42","slug":"delhi-protest-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kapilgupta.in\/blog\/delhi-protest-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Delhi Protest Crackdown: Why I Now Support This Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A No-Fluff Note from KG<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let me be honest about where I stand,all of it,because on a day like this, people want to sort you before they have even read you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I did not support this protest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can be,and often am,a Modi supporter. I do not back the Cockroach Janta Party. I do not back Sonam Wangchuk\u2019s fast or the theatre around it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And with every bit of that on the table, I am telling you plainly:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What the state allegedly did in Delhi yesterday was horrific.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The protest it has now turned into,the one against the <\/span><b>Delhi protest crackdown<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> itself,is one I will stand for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am not writing this from behind a wide-angle lens either. Someone I love was on Janpath yesterday and came home with a firsthand account that rearranged how I read every headline.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will leave it at that because who I happen to know is a footnote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What was allegedly done,in the open, to peaceful people, in the middle of the national capital,is the story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the line I want to draw a box around and never let anyone smudge:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You do not have to support CJP.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You do not have to support Wangchuk.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can even be a card-carrying Modi supporter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And you can still question <\/span><b>police action against peaceful protesters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those things are not in tension. Anyone who tells you they are is selling you a jersey you did not ask for.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What Happened During the Janpath Protest Crackdown?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The official account will likely be neat: a flashpoint at Jantar Mantar, a barricade broken and a measured response from the police.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is not the version I heard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the firsthand account shared with me, the beatings were not confined to Jantar Mantar. Children and young people were allegedly struck in the general Janpath area,away from the barricades, not pushing, not sloganeering and not doing anything except being present.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tear gas, I was told, was not limited to one hot spot. It reportedly spread across a much wider stretch, affecting parts of Janpath, Sansad Marg and the Tolstoy Marg connector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People did not have to be part of the flashpoint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They only had to be in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was allegedly enough to get gassed. That was allegedly enough to get hit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reports surrounding the <\/span><b>Delhi student protest<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also described a massive security presence, barricades, mobile internet restrictions and the closure of central Delhi metro stations. Videos and accounts circulating from the area reportedly showed injured young protesters and commuters struggling to exit closed stations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I initially read those reports and thought, grimly, that it was happening somewhere \u201cout there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then someone I love walked through the door and told me what they had witnessed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Only Two Places Where a Child Felt Safe<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the detail that told me everything about the shape of that day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the account I trust most, there were two places where students felt safe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first was inside caf\u00e9s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the caf\u00e9s,credit where it is due,quietly dropped the usual rule. Nobody came around asking whether every person hiding inside had ordered something.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For one afternoon, a latte you did not buy was the price of not being beaten.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The caf\u00e9s decided that was no price at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is ordinary people offering the basic decency they felt the state had abandoned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second place was Bangla Sahib.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children and students reportedly ran into the gurudwara because they believed the authorities would not send forces inside a religious institution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let that sink in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the middle of the national capital, a house of God became a sanctuary from the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the one place where people believe they will not be gassed or beaten is a gurudwara, we are forced to confront an uncomfortable question:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where do the real limits on power sit?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because at that moment, they did not appear to sit in the Constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What Made This Delhi Student Protest Different?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In all the years I have watched protests in this country, I cannot remember many large demonstrations where public property was not destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We know the usual images:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An overturned barricade.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A torched state-transport bus.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A smashed shopfront.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stones flying across the road.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The images are so routine that we have stopped asking whether violence is inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But according to the available accounts of this protest, nothing burned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thousands of angry, frightened and allegedly tear-gassed people,including schoolchildren in uniform,were present, yet there were no widespread reports of buses being torched, shops being destroyed or organised stone-pelting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city\u2019s property came home in better shape than the city\u2019s children did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That deserves to be stated plainly because it challenges the justification normally used for aggressive crowd control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yes, I can already hear the reply:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut there are always some goons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course. In a crowd of thousands, you can find a few of anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But using the actions of two or three people to justify what was allegedly done to thousands is a con. It deliberately shifts attention away from the central issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The larger crowd reportedly remained disciplined.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The force sent to control it allegedly did not show the same restraint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When protesters break nothing and the state breaks heads, \u201cbut the goons\u201d is not an argument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a distraction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I will not take the bait.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>From a NEET Protest to a Protest Against the Crackdown<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the honest arc of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This started as a protest connected to NEET and Dharmendra Pradhan. I have already questioned<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapilgupta.in\/blog\/neet-paper-leak-telegram-ban\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the government\u2019s response to the NEET paper leak<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and its tendency to address the messenger instead of fixing the system that failed students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thousands of people knew they had \u201ccome to protest,\u201d but there seemed to be little clarity about the plan, the exact demand or the win condition. The stated objective appeared to shift by the hour.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I said that before, and I stand by it.<\/span><b>As I explained in<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapilgupta.in\/blog\/cockroach-janta-party-protest-turnout-analysis\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"> <b>my earlier analysis of the Cockroach Janta Party protest<\/b><\/a><b>,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the movement appeared disorganised and lacked a clear plan, demand or win condition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I did not support that protest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the nature of the protest has now changed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After what allegedly happened, this is no longer only about an examination. It has become a protest against the response,against the alleged gassing of a wider area, the beating of bystanders and the closing of exits on citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is why I now stand against the <\/span><b>Delhi protest crackdown<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not because I have switched political jerseys. I have not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am the same person,lukewarm on CJP and broadly fine with Modi,that I was before this happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the object of the protest has changed into something every citizen should be capable of agreeing on, regardless of politics:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state does not get to use disproportionate force against peaceful people,especially children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>right to peaceful protest in India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> cannot depend on whether those in power approve of the protesters\u2019 politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If events had gone even slightly worse,a stampede at a locked metro gate or one panicked baton too many,we might be using much darker words to describe what happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We were closer to that possibility than anyone in power may want to admit.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Silence from the Top<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will say this even as someone who can support Modi:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The response from the top was indefensible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prime Minister opened the Monsoon Session speaking about economic growth while reports of children being gassed and beaten emerged from a short distance away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said nothing about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being able to support a political leader does not require pretending that his silence is meaningless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Silence is also a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On that day, it may have been the loudest thing the government said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The official engagement, when it eventually came, felt like a shrug in a suit,Health Minister J.P. Nadda meeting a small number of representatives, reportedly without making any clear commitments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It came after the alleged <\/span><b>Janpath lathi charge<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the wider police response had already occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The police claimed that the situation was handled professionally and disputed allegations of excessive force.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But citizens have videos. There are images of injured protesters. There are numerous eyewitness accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At some point, an official statement stops being an explanation and starts sounding like a dare to disbelieve your own eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Why Did the State Respond This Way?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I want to flag this clearly as a citizen\u2019s speculation,not a charge sheet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a state appears to respond so aggressively to a disorganised, largely unarmed crowd that reportedly caused little damage, a gap emerges that the official explanation does not fully address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why was mobile internet restricted?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why were exits closed?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why was tear gas reportedly allowed to affect a wider area?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why was such an extensive security response considered necessary for a march that did not result in widespread destruction of public property?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The official reasons do not appear to cover the size of the response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overreaction on this scale often appears to come from fear, not confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A confident government can let people shout, make their demands and eventually return home. A fearful system treats even a disorganised gathering as an existential threat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever the real explanation may be, the questions deserve answers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>You Don\u2019t Have to Support the Protesters<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So here is where I land.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not with the CJP.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not against Modi.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not with every demand made at the original protest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I stand with one simple, non-negotiable idea:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A young person must be able to stand in a public square in a democracy,be wrong, be disorganised, be loud and be inconvenient,and still come home unbeaten.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That idea allegedly bled on Janpath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You do not have to support the original protest to be disturbed by the <\/span><b>Delhi protest crackdown<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You only have to imagine that it was your child breathing in that gas, standing near that locked gate or looking for somewhere safe to hide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is why I did not support the protest then.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that is why I support this one now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u00a0&#8212; KG<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editorial note: This article combines personal opinion, a firsthand account shared with the author and publicly reported claims. Specific figures, locations, injuries and official actions should be independently verified and linked to credible sources before publication.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A No-Fluff Note from KG Let me be honest about where I stand,all of it,because on a day like this, people want to sort you before they have even read you. I did not support this protest. I can be,and often am,a Modi supporter. I do not back the Cockroach Janta Party. I do not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,1,9],"tags":[1158,1151,1152,1154,1157,1153,1155,1156],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-social-media","category-social-news","tag-delhi-protest-analysis","tag-delhi-protest-crackdown","tag-delhi-protest-police-action","tag-delhi-student-protest","tag-janpath-lathi-charge","tag-janpath-protest-crackdown","tag-police-action-against-peaceful-protesters","tag-right-to-peaceful-protest-in-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Delhi Protest Crackdown: Why I Now Support This Protest - Kapil Gupta Blog | Bold Takes on Politics, Society &amp; 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