New Delhi: On July 21, when Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi led a protest march toward the prime minister’s residence demanding accountability from the government for the failing educational system, he and his party members were stopped by police. The Delhi Police prevented the protesters from proceeding, roughed up Gandhi and other party members and bundled them into a police van. They were detained at Chhatrasal Stadium, roughly five kilometres away.Among those who protested with Gandhi was Kerala and Karnataka chief ministers V.D. Satheesan and D.K. Shivakumar respectively. Shivakumar was among those detained, while Satheesan, who had travelled to Delhi for other engagements, joined the march and later decried the police action “condemnable” and “undemocratic”.While Congress leaders protested in Delhi, their own state governments dealt with similar demonstrations back home in markedly different fashion. State police in Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana blocked protesters, rounded them up, detained them, and in several cases filed charges for “unlawful assembly” and for “holding gatherings without permission”.Police interference in legitimate agitations is inherently problematic, even when it stops short of physical violence. With heavy deployment of police and criminal cases filed against the protestors, the Congress led government undermined the right to peaceful protest and made it into a law-and-order problem rather than a democratic necessity.KarnatakaIn Bengaluru, thousands gathered at Freedom Park, the city’s only designated protest site. Police allege an unidentified woman displayed a placard supporting Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, along with slogans against the Bengaluru police. There was no sloganeering, just one placard. The Bengaluru police filed an FIR under BNS provisions and claimed that the protestor had tried to provoke unrest at the protest site. Aratrika, general secretary of the Bengaluru unit of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), said the protest was “through and through peaceful, yet the police had come with water cannons.” She said a plainclothes woman police officer tore the placard apart. At the protest, officials also removed a poster supporting trans rights and confiscated a football used as a symbolic prop. Aratrika says protesting in Bengaluru has always been a challenge. “Permission to gather anywhere other than Freedom Park is nearly impossible to obtain,” she added. The state also saw counter-protests by the BJP, which accused Congress-aligned demonstrators of using the exam row to “insult the Prime Minister and raise anti-national slogans”. In Kalaburagi, Belagavi and Vijayapuram when BJP workers tried to march to the district Congress office, police barricaded them and detained several leaders.KochiA similar pattern played out in Kochi’s Ernakulam district. On July 22, roughly 100 people gathered at Central Park, Panampilly Nagar, in solidarity with the Delhi protests. At the protest, rapper Hirandas Murali, also known as Vedan, and singer Gabri performed and addressed the crowd. Ernakulam Town South Police registered a case against Vedan, his manager Vignesh G. Pillai and 99 others, under provisions covering unlawful assembly and disobeying a public order, after the organisers went ahead despite being denied permission. Vedan called it a “routine case” when he spoke to The Wire. The police action, however, was widely criticised. Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala told the media he was not immediately aware of the reasons behind the case and would look into it, noting that such cases were not usually registered over such incidents.TelanganaIn Telangana, police detained and took action against student demonstrators outside the Lok Bhavan in Hyderabad. Police deployed security, used preventive custody, and stopped marches. The police action was directed only towards the non-Congress led protests. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy himself led a candlelight rally in Hyderabad on July 20 and the rally was not interrupted by the police. As part of its negotiations with the Cockroach Janata Party, the BJP had promised to withdraw cases against protesters in states governed by the BJP and its allies. Despite this assurance, several students were arrested, and police continued to crack down on student groups. Both CJP and the AISA have warned the government against such action, stating that unless the cases are withdrawn and the harassment of protesters stops, they will have no choice but to resume their protest. Meanwhile, the Congress-led states have remained conspicuously silent, with no indication of similar cases against protesters being withdrawn there.