The Delhi Police on Saturday restricted entry to the H.K.S. Surjeet Bhawan in central Delhi on the second day of a seminar being organised by civil society groups to analyse the implications and outcome of the upcoming G-20 Summit. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) owns Surjeet Bhawan.
The police said the organisers of the seminar — We20-People’s Summit on G20 — had not taken permission for holding the event.
Reacting sharply, the CPI(M) called the police action an attempt to “suppress dissenting opinions being voiced”.
The event began at 10.30 a.m. and as per a statement issued by the organisers, the Delhi Police “barricaded the gates to Surjeet Bhawan not letting anyone in around 11 a.m.”
The police, they said, demanded that the seminar be “shut down”. However, the seminar continued inside the building, amid heavy police presence outside.
At the time the police reached the venue, at least two MPs — Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh and JD(U) leader Anil Hegde — were attending workshops inside. There were three simultaneous sessions going on different topics, including “G-20 and India’s Presidency: In Whose Interest”.
Nikhil Dey, of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, told The Hindu, that when he reached the venue at 10.45 a.m., he was stopped by the police from entering the building.
He was to address a seminar on “Right to Information, Digital Data and Surveillance”. Along with him, RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, the second speaker on the subject, was also stopped at the gate.
“I told them that I am one of the speakers, but the officer posted said he cannot make any exception,” Mr. Dey said.
Mr. Dey said he had to wait for more than an hour and could enter the building only when the gates were opened to let Mr. Ramesh out.
By that time, there was a crowd of nearly 30 to 40 persons at the gates, many of whom were slated to speak at the event. The gates were opened for Mr. Ramesh only after a heated argument between the police and the organisers.
“It is extraordinary that Delhi Police is stopping people from attending the We20 meeting organised by activists representing We, The People, inside a building that belongs to the CPM. The meeting is perfectly peaceful. There are no street protests. I managed to enter at 10:30 am before Delhi Police started its operations but had difficulty exiting now. This is new India Democracy,” Mr. Ramesh posted on X (formerly twitter) at 1.17 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Sanjay Sain told The Hindu that the police received “several calls” that “tents are being erected and people are gathering. The police team was sent after we verified the information”.
The initial apprehension was that a dharna was planned there, he added. He underlined that no police permission was sought for the event.
Asked if permission is required for events organised inside private buildings, Mr. Sain said, “They had erected tents outside the building. And there was considerable gathering of people, in an area where Section 144 (prohibiting gathering of four or more people) is imposed.”
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury questioned the Delhi Police’s reasoning. “The police sought to stop the meeting stating that it had not got police permission. No police permission was ever required for such meetings or seminars in private buildings,” he said.
He accused the Narendra Modi government of using the Delhi Police to interfere with the democratic rights of citizens to hold discussions and seminars in the capital.
“The action of the Delhi Police to try and stop a seminar-cum-workshop being held at the Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhavan in New Delhi on alternative policies with regard to the G-20 was totally uncalled for and an attempt to suppress dissenting opinions being voiced,” he added.
