Rajasthan Police detained a group of college students in Alwar on Sunday ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s public programme in the city, as the students were planning to stage a protest and wave black flags at him.
Shah, accompanied by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, is scheduled to address a public meeting at Vijay Nagar Ground in Alwar and inaugurate development projects worth Rs 6,279 crore across the state, including projects valued at Rs 783 crore in Alwar district.
According to police sources cited in media reports, the students were taken into custody ahead of a proposed protest at RR College.
The protesters had planned to raise the matter of the lathi-charge on students at Jantar Mantar in Delhi during the Cockroach Janta Party protest in July. Other issues on their agenda included the poor condition of roads, the alleged Matsya scam involving corruption in the fisheries department, and the demand for the restoration of student union elections in Rajasthan, the report said, citing a police source.
The detentions in Alwar form part of a broader pattern of preventive arrests ahead of Amit Shah’s public engagements in recent weeks. They also coincide with the Opposition’s continued demand for the Home Minister’s resignation over the police action against student protesters in Delhi in July.
In Pune on August 1, several office-bearers of the Maharashtra Youth Congress and Pune City Congress were taken into custody shortly after midnight ahead of the visit by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The Youth Congress alleged that its leaders were held for nearly 16 hours and that police seized their mobile phones during the detention.
Separately in Pune the same day, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More was detained after announcing that he would stage a protest during Shah’s visit. Police stated that the detention was preventive, unrelated to any criminal case, and carried out to prevent disruption to the visit and an award ceremony for Doval.
The police action of 20 July referenced by the Alwar protesters concerns the student-led demonstrations held at Jantar Mantar against the NEET-UG paper leak. The protests had attracted activists associated with organisations such as the All India Students Association and the Cockroach Janta Party.
Those demonstrations prompted the resignation of senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan from his post as education minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Student organisations have subsequently claimed that activists continue to face detention, notwithstanding government assurances that no punitive measures would be taken once the protests had concluded.
