Nagpur: Police cleared a late-night protest at Samvidhan Square on Wednesday, hauling off dozens of demonstrators in police vans—even as a group of young protesters sang the national anthem in defiance.
By evening, hundreds of people, mostly students and young women, had gathered at the square to show solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party's ongoing demonstrations in Delhi regarding the NEET paper leak. The crowd chanted slogans against the government and demanded the Prime Minister's resignation.
Although authorities had only permitted the gathering until 7:00 PM, a crowd remained well past the deadline. Around 11:00 PM, on orders from Nagpur Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil, forces moved in to clear the area. Joint JCP Navinchandra Reddy arrived on-scene with reinforcements to oversee the operation.
As officers began bundling people into vans, several protesters started singing Jana Gana Mana. Unfazed, police continued clearing the site, detaining the remaining crowd and driving them away to an undisclosed location.
"We repeatedly asked the protesters to disperse, but they refused," Joint CP Reddy told reporters. "Because they stayed past the permitted time, we had no choice but to step in and clear the site."
According to his office, Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Nagpur Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule is scheduled to visit Samvidhan Square on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, a counter-demonstration broke out in the city's Chitnis Park area. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM)—the BJP's youth wing—staged a protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him and Congress workers of committing an "anti-national act" by attempting to trespass into the Prime Minister's residence on Tuesday. Led by city unit president Sachin Karare, BJYM activists marched to a nearby Congress office to chant slogans.
