New Delhi: Commuters heading to work faced a harrowing time on Saturday as Delhi was blanketed with unprecedented security, following the CJP’s call for a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged “vote theft”.
Here is a first-person account from a PTI journalist who empathised with the hardship office-goers faced. Throughout the journey, he captured the frustration of many who were caught between a political showdown and the simple need to make a living.
I left my home in Vaishali, Ghaziabad, filled with trepidation about how I would reach the office. The daily to-and-fro I’d done for years suddenly felt like a Himalayan task, as if I were stepping straight into a battle zone.
I felt a wave of relief when I ran into a few colleagues on the metro. Seeing them meant we were in this struggle together, and it gave me hope we would somehow reach our destination. I relaxed.
Amit Pandey was travelling from Vasundhara, Dilip from Laxmi Nagar, and Subhash from Saket in South Delhi. We alighted at the Rajiv Chowk metro station, and that’s when the real trouble began: We saw the station’s entry and exit gates were closed. We approached a security jawan, flashed our press cards, and said we were from PTI (Press Trust of India) and needed to reach our office. Initially, the jawan stonewalled us.
However, our persistent pleading eventually softened him, and he unlocked the gate when nobody was around, letting us leave the station.
We were elated, but our joy was short-lived. Outside, we stepped into a completely different world; a huge contingent of police had fanned out across the roads, and anti-riot vehicles stood ominously at various locations. Connaught Place, Sansad Marg, Jantar Mantar, Janpath, Tolstoy Marg, Ashoka Road, Kharak Singh Marg, Panchkuian Road, Minto Road, Barakhamba Road, everywhere we looked, police stood guard.
We approached a few policemen standing outside the station, who not only offered us water to quench our thirst but also guided us on how to navigate the closed roads to reach our office.
As we started from Janpath Market towards Sansad Marg, another police officer stopped us and directed us to turn back. When we insisted and explained our situation, he became sympathetic. He said, “Look, Navratri begins tomorrow, yet the entire market is closed today. Business owners have suffered significant losses… it is truly unfortunate.” Glancing back at us, he said, “Believe me, we don’t want people to face this kind of inconvenience either, nor do we want to see the markets shut down.”
Time passed, yet we felt frozen, paralysed by the sense that our office was miles away, even though it was just around the corner.
“This route is closed, and we won’t allow you any further,” said another policeman manning a locked barricade. Determined not to give up, we approached officer after officer to explain our desperate struggle to reach the office.
Just as we were about to give up, disheartened and exhausted, we approached one final policeman. To our relief, he understood our plight. He checked our ID cards, offered us water to steady our nerves, and let us proceed. By then, nearly an hour had passed as we searched for a way through.
Once at the office, we shared stories with our colleagues and realised our ordeal paled in comparison to Ravikant’s. Commuting by auto-rickshaw from Nehru Vihar, he was stopped at New Delhi Railway Station. Despite flashing his press card, a senior police officer stopped him from proceeding, even on foot, and warned, “If you argue any further, we will take you into custody.”
If some were lucky, many couldn’t reach the office and ended up in police detention.
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