New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has delivered a fierce critique of the Union government and Delhi Police after returning to a heavily barricaded national capital, describing the state of security curbs as an “undeclared Emer-GenZ”.

Expressing shock at the scale of police deployment following his arrival in the capital after 2 am, Tharoor highlighted the extraordinary measures implemented to preempt the CJP-led ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ rally demanding transparency from the Election Commission.

“I have rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now – with checkpoints every few hundred metres, concrete barriers and spike strips laid across our roads, a war-like deployment of 22,000 police and paramilitary across the city, 250 trains cancelled, and 45 metro stations closed,” Tharoor posted on X.


Key objections raised by Tharoor

Repressive internet blackouts: Labelled the suspension of mobile internet services across Central Delhi as the “most regressive as well as repressive” step taken by authorities.

Detention of youth: Criticized reports of young activists being pulled directly from their homes and off the streets solely for planning a peaceful demonstration.

Denial of designated protest spaces: Pointed out that Jantar Mantar was explicitly allocated for public dissent, yet access routes leading to the historic site have been completely sealed.

Deteriorating administrative priorities: Questioned where “this extraordinary manpower and urgency disappear when women in our capital need protection”.

'Fortress mindset deepens electoral suspicions'

Addressing the underlying cause of the protests – questions surrounding the integrity of the electoral roll revision -Tharoor warned that extreme administrative measures would backfire on the government.

“A government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome questions about them, whereas one that turns its capital into a fortress to avoid them only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress,” Tharoor noted.

He urged the government to provide “answers, not lathis; expression, not repression”.

Warning that barricades will fail to restore public trust in the Election Commission, Tharoor questioned the long-term viability of locking down the capital if demonstrators return in the coming days, adding that “the strength of a democracy is measured by how it treats those who question its working, and by that measure, what we have seen today is utterly shameful and unconscionable”.