Jharkhand student protest: Leftist cabal that made a hue and cry over alleged use of pellet guns by Delhi Police during CJP protest goes silent over Ranchi Police saying it will use pellet guns in ’emergency’

· OpIndia

Thousands of students are taking a “Vidhan Sabha Gherao” march to the Jharkhand state assembly in Ranchi on 10th August. The students are protesting against irregularities in various recruitment exams. As the student protest intensifies in Jharkhand, the Ranchi Police has said that it will use pellet guns against student protestors in case of “emergency”.

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Ranchi City SP Paras Rana told the media that a large police force has been deployed as a precautionary measure and said that the protestors will not face inconvenience. However, if anyone resorts to violence, appropriate legal action will be taken.

“There will be a large number of students. Instructions have been issued to all Ranchi Police personnel that if the protesters conduct themselves peacefully, no inconvenience will be caused to anyone. However, if anyone attempts to resort to violence, appropriate legal action will be taken against them,” he said.

In a response to the question about a viral video wherein police personnel were seen carrying pellet guns as a weapon, SP Rana said that it was not a pellet gun but a paintball gun used to throw colored balls to mark and identify troublemakers. However, the officer said that pellet guns are being carried strictly for use during emergency situations.

“If a pellet gun is being carried, it is strictly for emergency situations. Regarding the viral video—what is being mistaken for a pellet gun is actually a paintball gun; it fires soft, colored balls used to mark and identify troublemakers. It is not a pellet gun,” the officer added.

Notably, pellet guns are 12-bore pump-action shotguns that fire cartridges loaded with pellets. Pellet guns are classified as less-lethal or non-lethal crowd-control equipment. These are a part of the standard equipment of specialised riot-control units.

Interestingly, the reaction of the Left-Liberal cabal to the apathy of the Jharkhand Mukta Morcha and Congress alliance Government towards the weeks-long students’ protest stands in sharp contrast to their fury during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in Delhi in July.

Anti-BJP cabal that villainised Delhi Police over rumours of pellet guns use against protestors during CJP protests goes silent during Jharkhand student protest

Not too long ago, when the CJP protests turned violent during the ‘Chalo Sansad’ march on 20th July, the Delhi Police was forced to respond with lathicharge and other strict measures.

The Left-Liberal cabal had claimed that the Delhi Police used pellet guns against innocent protesting students, although the march was replete with supporters of anti-BJP political parties.

From Congress, Samajwadi Party and other INDI Alliance parties, to their ideological supporters, all of them vilified the Delhi Police over alleged use of pellet guns when the 20th July protest turned violent.

Back then, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das had claimed that Delhi Police had used pellet guns against “peaceful protesters”. He shared a video showing marks on a protester’s body.

The villainization of the Delhi Police continued despite them publicly denying the use of pellet guns on peaceful protesters. The Delhi Police said, “Claims of pellet guns being used against peaceful protesters by Delhi Police on Monday are completely false and misleading. Delhi Police neither possesses pellet guns nor were they used during the ongoing protest. The public is requested not to share or circulate any unverified or misleading information.”

The CJP supporters had even attempted to mob lynch Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel and circulated their videos and pictures online for identification and later targeting. The anti-BJP cabal framed the police response to CJP protestors pelting stones at police personnel as ‘state repression’ of students, their right to protest, crushing of dissent by brute force and whatnot.

However, the same cabal has gone completely silent over the Ranchi Police’s admission of readiness to use pellet guns on student protests during ‘emergency’ in the Congress-JMM alliance-ruled Jharkhand.

Apparently, pellet guns are bad only when the police use them against protestors in BJP-ruled states. Even the leftist media has no problem with the Ranchi Police carrying pellet guns for ‘emergency’ use. Their maximal response to ‘crackdown on peaceful dissent’ is reserved only for the BJP governments.

While the Delhi Police has denied pellet guns use, the official SOPs and Supreme Court observations allow their use in exceptional circumstances after other softer measures. However, when the police in non-BJP states openly boast readiness to use the same pellet guns to suppress the protests if it turns violent, the same left-liberal ecosystem largely remains silent. Even the Delhi Police had not resorted to strict measures for fun.

The CJP protest continued for over a month, and the police did not forcefully remove even a single ‘cockroach’ from Jantar Mantar; even climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was on indefinite hunger strike, was shifted to a hospital only on the court’s order. It was only when the protest turned violent on 20th July that the Delhi Police and RAF acted in accordance with the SOP, and did a lathicharge against violent CJP protestors, essentially in a proportionate emergency.

However, given the political utility of the so-called ‘excesses’ by the Delhi Police during the CJP protest, the Congress-led Opposition has continued protests outside Parliament and is not letting the House function properly until Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on the issue. It’s been more than three weeks since the CJP protests were called off, and yet the domestic and foreign Leftist media continues to frame the Delhi Police-CJP episode as ‘brutal suppression of peaceful dissent’. Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court to seek a ban or stricter SOPs on the use of pellet guns.

Collectively, the same left-liberal cabal that has stayed quiet on Jharkhand student protests is still devoted to portraying the Delhi Police’s response to CJP’s violent protests as emblematic of fear-driven authoritarian overreach by the BJP-led Central government.

Now, when the JMM-Congress-led administration in Jharkhand has unleashed lathis and water cannons and even expressed readiness to use pellet guns against students protesting against corruption in JPSC and JSSC, all the opposition parties and their media lackeys have turned a blind eye.

This is not only about the use of pellet guns; the liberal cabal has maintained a hypocritical silence over the Jharkhand student protests. Even their limited commentary is performative, just as CJP’s support to Jharkhand student protestors was. Clearly, the anti-BJP ecosystem delivers moral lectures on democracy, dissent, and constitutional rights, etc, only when the ruling dispensation is led by the BJP.

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