The Delhi police on Monday arrested 15 people on charges of obstructing its personnel and assaulting them during a protest on Sunday at India Gate against rising air pollution in the national capital.
Demonstrators allegedly clashed with police and some raised slogans in support of Maoist leader Madvi Hidma who was killed in a gunfight in Andhra Pradesh earlier this month.
The tension started when police moved in to disperse the crowd, prompting some demonstrators to allegedly use pepper spray on the officers. The injured police personnel were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for treatment.
A police official told PTI it was the first time they had encountered protesters using chilli spray against personnel, adding that the group had “used force and violence” during the confrontation.
According to the police, the protesters sat in the middle of the road at India Gate without permission for around an hour, raising slogans and waving posters.
Despite multiple warnings, the protesters refused to vacate the area and broke through barricades in the busy stretch, police said, adding that appeals over ambulances and medical staff being stuck in the ensuing congestion were also ignored.
As the cops continued to disperse the protesters, a group of people raised slogans such as "Madvi Hidma Amar Rahe" (Long Live Madvi Hidma). One participant carried a poster that read, "From Birsa Munda to Madvi Hidma, the struggle of our forests and environment will go on."
Delhi police said they will identify those responsible for the slogans.
"Those who raised such slogans at India Gate will be identified, and legal action will be taken against them. We will file a case against them," the police said, per PTI.
The ruling BJP was quick to pounce on the protesters.
Amit Malviya, the head of the party’s IT cell, linked the “activists” to familiar figures from “Left-aligned unions of JNU”.
“For the last decade, Delhi had an Urban Naxal as Chief Minister and despite the city choking year after year, there were no major protests demanding cleaner air,” Malviya wrote on social media.
“But the moment BJP swept to power in Delhi, suddenly we have ‘activists’ staging protests in the name of pollution — protests that are clearly motivated by a regressive Communist agenda, not environmental concern.”
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh took a similar line.
“Protesting peacefully is a constitutional right, but urban Naxals and Leftist, anti-India forces are conspiring to spread hatred in the country through foreign toolkits,” Chugh told PTI Videos. “Whether Naxals, Maoists or terrorists, wherever they hide, their ideology of killing innocents must be wiped out.”
Another BJP leader, Shahnawaz Hussain, said the protest against pollution was not the real purpose.
“Those with a 'polluted mind' began raising slogans in support of Hidma. We have always said that urban Naxals are present in cities as well. In the forests, we have eliminated them, and whatever remains will also be finished. 'Professional protesters' always look for excuses against the government. Pollution was just a pretext - they aimed to promote Naxalism," Hussain said.
Madvi Hidma, the Maoist commander responsible for at least 26 armed attacks on security forces and civilians, was killed on November 18.
Hidma is believed to have orchestrated several major Maoist strikes, including the 2010 Dantewada attack that killed 76 CRPF personnel and the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush in which 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, lost their lives.
He also played a key role in the 2021 Sukma–Bijapur gun battle that left 22 security personnel dead.