NEW DELHI/COIMBATORE: Former IPS officer K Annamalai has launched a sharp attack on the Central government and the Delhi Police over the detention of protesters from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Annamalai is the former Tamil Nadu BJP president, and his remarks drew a sharp response from the BJP.
“Delhi Police is doing a real disservice”
Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore on Tuesday, Annamalai said the Delhi Police was doing a “real disservice” by cracking down on CJP members. He is the founder of the “We The Leaders” movement and quit the BJP in June this year.
He made it clear that he does not agree with everything the group does. “I may not agree with their antics or mode of protest,” he said, but he fully backs the questions they are raising. According to him, it is the government’s job to answer them.
He also warned that heavy-handed policing could backfire. “Arresting them and dragging them into jail will only make their leaders stronger,” he said, adding that keeping leaders in prison can make them even more popular.
Asked about the CJP’s concerns over the revision of electoral rolls, Annamalai said he was worried that the police had “taken the law into their hands.” On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said Gandhi has every right to question the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, but “institutional damage should not be caused.”
A post on X, and a reminder of 2011
On Wednesday, Annamalai took his criticism further in a post on X. He recalled that in 2011, Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, had slammed the midnight police action against anti-corruption protesters at Ramlila Maidan. Modi had said that if his hands were not tied, he would have gone to Delhi and fought the Central government.
Annamalai said he thinks what the Prime Minister said back then was “absolutely right.”
He then pointed to the present. “Today, you could be jailed indefinitely; your surety bonds could be rejected,” he wrote. He also questioned how a Special Executive Magistrate, who has the power to handle preventive bond cases, could “play circles around” a person.
He was referring to the arrest of CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. Both were finally released on Wednesday after seven days in custody.
“Tiring and boring” labels
Annamalai also criticised the habit of calling protesters “anti-India” or “foreign agents.” He called this narrative “tiring and boring.”
“If you question the violation of due process of law in a democracy, you would be called names,” he wrote, adding that a flood of attacks follows, including being branded a foreign agent.
What next?
The BJP reacted sharply to his remarks, though the details of its response were not part of the reports. Annamalai, who has recently begun a new political journey after leaving the BJP and is reportedly eyeing the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, appears set to keep raising the issue.
