‘Undeclared emergency’: Sonam Wangchuk warns of fast, march if leaders detained in Delhi not released by tomorrow

Activist Sonam Wangchuk called the situation in India an ‘undeclared emergency’ after political leaders and activists were detained in Delhi ahead of a protest demanding chief election commissioner's resignation. He said he may begin an indefinite fast or march if they are not released by Sunday.

Activist Sonam on Saturday described the situation in India as an “undeclared emergency” after several political leaders and activists, including former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, were detained in Delhi ahead of a proposed protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Wangchuk warned that he could consider an indefinite fast or a march if those detained were not released by Sunday, October 11. His remarks came amid a major security deployment in the national capital as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. The protest was planned to demand Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in voter roll.

“INDIA IN A STATE OF UNDECLARED EMERGENCY… Yesterday when I posted a message appealing for unity & peace in today's protest I had never imagined that the biggest democracy in the world would be under an undeclared EMERGENCY,” Wangchuk said on X.

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Wangchuk said this after political leaders and activists were detained in Delhi ahead of a planned protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He said he had not expected the country to be in this situation.

He said he would consider an indefinite fast, or an Anshan, or a Padyatra march if those detained were not released by Sunday, October 11.

The Cockroach Janta Party called the protest to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in voter rolls.

The main article names Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and AISA president Neha Bora among those detained. It also reports that several other political leaders and activists were taken into custody.

He added, “I was happy there were so many leaders to lead the movement, but I now learn that they have all been arrested. I hope those arrested will be released soon. I will be compelled to consider an Anshan Fast or Padyatra March if they are not released by tomorrow.”

(This is a developing story. More to come)

About the Author

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X