Rajasthan Police detained Alwar college students before Amit Shah’s visit over their planned black flag protest.
Students sought to highlight the Jantar Mantar lathi-charge, poor roads, alleged Matsya scam and stalled union elections.
Preventive detentions have also occurred in Pune, where Congress workers were held ahead of Shah’s recent visit.
Rajasthan Police took a group of college students into custody in Alwar on Sunday prior to a scheduled public event by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Officers detained the students to prevent a planned demonstration where they intended to show black flags to him at RR College, police sources said, as reported by PTI.
Shah will speak at a public gathering at Vijay Nagar Ground alongside Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma. He is slated to inaugurate state-wide development initiatives valued at ₹6,279 crore. Alwar district alone will receive ₹783 crore from these projects.
Demands Behind Alwar Protest
The students intended to highlight a July lathi-charge against demonstrators at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. This previous police action occurred during a gathering organised by the Cockroach Janta Party.
Local issues formed another part of the planned agitation. The protesters sought to highlight deteriorating road networks and the alleged Matsya scam, which involves corruption in the fisheries department, sources further informed PTI.
They also demanded that student union elections be restored in Rajasthan.
Pattern Of Preventive Detentions
The detentions in Rajasthan come against the backdrop of a wider pattern of preventive detentions ahead of Shah's public engagements in recent weeks. This occurs amid sustained Opposition demands for the home minister's resignation over the police action against student protesters in the national capital in July.
In Pune on August 1, police detained several office-bearers of the Maharashtra Youth Congress and Pune City Congress shortly after midnight. Police took the political workers into custody ahead of a visit by Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Youth Congress leaders alleged they were held for nearly 16 hours and that police officers confiscated their mobile phones during the detention.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More was also preventively detained in Pune on August 1. He had announced a protest during the visit. Police stated the detention was preventive and unconnected to any criminal case, and was carried out to prevent interruptions during the visit and a Doval award ceremony.
Fallout Of July Protests
The July 20 police action cited by the Alwar students traces back to demonstrations at Jantar Mantar over the NEET-UG paper leak. Activists had gathered under the banners of the All India Students Association and the Cockroach Janta Party.
These protests forced the resignation of senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan. He stepped down as education minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Student organisations allege that preventive detentions of their activists persist today. They maintain this violates government assurances that participants would face no punitive action after the protests ended.
