It was very clear from the scenes on the streets of Delhi on 10 October that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would not be allowed a moment of relief by the people from now on. It has lost its sleep. It sees opponents everywhere. It is haunted by the ghosts of dissent.At the entry points of roads, heavy barricades and the watchful eyes of hundreds of police personnel made it impossible for anyone walking to pass without being questioned. Most were turned away if the police personnel found anything suspicious in their responses.But one could see that anyone walking was a suspect. My students informed me that they had been picked up from Minto Bridge, where they were having pakoras. They had seen a young man dragged out of a nearby public toilet where he had gone to relieve himself.We live on the North Campus of the University of Delhi. My wife and I were wondering how we would be able to get to the protest site. We knew it would be impossible to get there. I had to catch my flight to Kolkata, so getting detained was not a very wise thing to risk. But we did want to be part of the protests.Our day began with a message from a friend who wanted to know if we were fine. She had sent messages to some other friends, which remained unanswered. I told her that it was possible they had switched off their phones because the police were looking for all publicly known dissenters.Then another friend, a senior lawyer, called to find out how to get to Jantar Mantar. She would walk if vehicles were not being allowed, she said.And then our phone rang. It was a call from Gita Sahgal, daughter of the writer Nayantara Sahgal. She wanted to know how the day was unfolding in Delhi. She, the grand lady of India, had called to convey her ashirwad (blessings) to the young, fighting the Goliath.So, what were we to do? We knew that the police in Delhi, Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and every other state and city were already prowling the lanes, scrutinising every young man they encountered, wondering: was he likely to go to the Jantar Mantar protest on the 10th?Everyone was a potential protester in the government’s eyesDelhi Police was trying to read the footsteps of everyone walking on any road in the capital, to see whether they were about to turn towards Jantar Mantar. At this moment, everyone was a potential protester in the government’s eyes.Delhi has been turned into a garrison. Reserve police personnel have been flown in from West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh. Some 20,000 paramilitary troops were already stationed in Delhi, and 12,000 more were being brought in. According to the latest reports, 221 companies of central armed police forces had been made available to Delhi Police.Ten detention centres had been readied to hold those who were arrested. Taxi companies like Ola and Uber were being told to keep their cars off Delhi’s roads on and around October 10. Hotels were being told not to accommodate guests. Two of the city’s main railway stations had been shut, and trains to and from them cancelled. Fifty-seven metro stations were closed. Barricades had gone up on nearly every road. Shops and restaurants had been told to close early.Internet services had been shut down across large parts of Delhi. Classes at Delhi University colleges had been moved online. How would they function without the internet? There was no answer. Heavy police deployment surrounded the campuses. The government feared that colleges and university campuses might turn into protest sites if students were allowed to enter. So classes were moved online.Heavy police deployment also surrounded the offices of political parties.Several YouTubers alleged that they were being phoned and asked to go to Jantar Mantar to make videos in support of the government, and that they were being paid for it.It was clear that the government no longer trusted its own people. Or rather, it no longer trusted the people. Its supporters, many of them allegedly paid, were openly making videos and loitering around Jantar Mantar. They were threatening to teach the government’s opponents a lesson.Why was the police not arresting these thugs who threatened violence? It was picking up people from house to house, suspecting everyone who might join the protest. Yet these goons had been left free. Was it because they were the police’s friends? These were the people who chanted: “Delhi Police, wield your lathis, we are with you.”So today, those who wield sticks are free, while those armed only with ideas are under arrest. Hundreds of young people have been detained; there could be many more, as the police have picked them up and carried them away. In many homes, policemen have set up camp and are sitting there. This is utterly illegal. But policemen and policewomen simply enter your house and sit tight without showing any orders. This has become the norm in the last 13 years.The courts have no objection. In the Madhya Pradesh high court, the judges brushed aside a habeas corpus petition. They said the police should send these people back to their parents. Think about it: adults have been made to disappear by the police without due process, and the court does not find this objectionable. Instead, it asks us to wait until October 13. In other words, the police may make you vanish whenever it pleases, for as many days as it pleases.Likewise, the Supreme Court finds it reasonable that the government should lock down Delhi entirely. The citizen’s right to freedom of movement now means nothing, because the court seems more worried about the government’s right to survive somehow. The court said that if permission for a protest had not been obtained, it was illegal and the government was free to stop it. It seems to find even the shutting down of an entire city perfectly acceptable.If an entire state stands against you with all its might, what does that prove? Who is more powerful? Who is afraid? The one who is afraid is the one frightening those who raise slogans, using sticks and guns.And yet the slogans are being raised. The government may stuff bullets into its own ears so that it cannot hear them, but everyone else can.That is what we discovered when we took the metro from Model Town, as the Vishwavidyalaya metro gates were locked. We met two young men who were also headed to Jantar Mantar. They had already spent more than an hour trying to find an exit close to Jantar Mantar. We got down at AIIMS and exited.A gracious auto driver agreed to ferry us as far as he would be allowed to go. All four of us jumped in, and the driver skilfully took the roads the police had left unguarded. It took us longer, but that was not a bad bargain.The government is terrified by the roar of silenceWe were eventually stopped at the entry point of Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Our grey hair helped us, and we managed to reach the Press Club.At three points, we were asked to show our identity cards and explain why we were on the road on such a bad day. The gate of the Press Club was closed, and we had to enter through the back gate.Inside the club, journalist friends were exchanging notes with one another. I got a call from a journalist friend who told me that Neha Bora was about to start a march from Dilli Haat. My wife looked at her watch and warned me that I might miss my flight if I did not leave soon.Vishwadeepak, a journalist friend, offered to take me to AIIMS, from where I could catch the metro to the airport. We got stuck near the Dilli Haat flyover. I knew the reason. Soon, I saw familiar faces. Our eyes met. Hands waved. My phone rang, and I saw Ali Shaan, who jumped into the car. Neha and Yogendra Yadav had been detained. Dipankar Bhattacharya was speaking to the media. Some youngsters were sitting on the flyover. The car crawled, but for the first time on a road in Delhi, I did not mind the traffic jam.I was happy that I could at least pass through a point charged with the energy of dissent and protest. My friends Atul Sood and Navsharan were standing there. I regretted not being able to get out and join them.Purwa called. Alka, a friend, had managed to make it to the Press Club. They had wandered around but could not get past the police barricades. After loitering for an hour, they took a bus to Punjabi Bagh.Was this a protest or not?The government would claim victory, as it had managed to turn Jantar Mantar into a silent zone. But one can be sure that it is terrified by the roar of that silence, which everyone can hear.