'They have the right to protest, argue': Ex-BJP leader Annamalai questions govt's handling of CJP protests

NEW DELHI: Former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has questioned the Centre over its handling of protests by the CJP group in Delhi, raising concerns over restrictions at Jantar Mantar, preventive detention and bail proceedings involving its office-bearers. In a series of posts, former BJP leader K Annamalai invoked then-Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s 2011 remarks condemning the police crackdown on an anti-corruption protest at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, questioning whether the principles Modi defended then applied to protesters today.“In 2011, the then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, said that if his hands had not been tied, he would have gone to Delhi and revolted against the central government,” Annamalai wrote.“In my view, what the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi said then was absolutely right.

There was nothing wrong with it,” he added. Annamalai, who said he left the BJP on June 5, 2026, questioned how Jantar Mantar was removed as a designated protest site after CJP sought permission to hold a demonstration.

He also raised concerns over an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) functioning as a special executive magistrate with the authority to decide whether a person should remain in preventive detention.“In the CJP case, Delhi Police itself is the complainant, while an ACP belonging to the same Delhi Police force has the authority to decide whether the accused should remain in preventive detention,” he said. He also questioned why eight bail sureties had been rejected and why a magistrate had cross-examined a person offering bail surety.

Annamalai further asked whether action had been taken over the alleged use of pellet guns and other standard operating procedure violations during protests against the NEET examination. Comparing the situation with protests during previous Congress and Aam Aadmi Party governments in Delhi, he asked how BJP workers who allegedly jumped barricades or disobeyed police orders had been treated.“Was it anything like what is happening now?

Certainly not!” he said.‘I disagree with CJP’s protest strategies’Annamalai said he disagreed with CJP’s approach but defended its right to protest.“As I said yesterday, I do not agree with CJP’s protest strategies, and I believe many of its approaches are misguided,” he said.“But if you ask me whether they have the right to protest, argue and fight for an issue they consider important, my answer is an unequivocal yes!” he added. He also criticised the tendency to portray protests against the Union government as anti-national or foreign-funded.“It is genuinely exhausting and frustrating to see every protest against the central government and every statement it issues being portrayed as an anti-national act funded by foreign powers,” he said.

Annamalai further questioned whether the BJP was inadvertently giving CJP publicity by targeting it, referring to a Dussehra event led by BJP MLA Ashok Goyal.“Is the BJP genuinely opposed to CJP, or is it giving the organisation free publicity?” he asked. The remarks come days after CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were arrested over an alleged attempt to trespass at Jantar Mantar, which had been de-notified as a designated protest site.

They were sent to Tihar Jail and later released after signing a bond.

Key quotes

• “In 2011, the then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, said that if his hands had not been tied, he would have gone to Delhi and revolted against the central government,”

• “In my view, what the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi said then was absolutely right. There was nothing wrong with it,”

• “In the CJP case, Delhi Police itself is the complainant, while an ACP belonging to the same Delhi Police force has the authority to decide whether the accused should remain in preventive detention,”

• “Was it anything like what is happening now? Certainly not!”

• “As I said yesterday, I do not agree with CJP’s protest strategies, and I believe many of its approaches are misguided,”

• “But if you ask me whether they have the right to protest, argue and fight for an issue they consider important, my answer is an unequivocal yes!”

• “It is genuinely exhausting and frustrating to see every protest against the central government and every statement it issues being portrayed as an anti-national act funded by foreign powers,”

• “Is the BJP genuinely opposed to CJP, or is it giving the organisation free publicity?”