Praise came for the central government and the Delhi Police from an unexpected quarter — the Congress, no less.
Shashi Tharoor said Neha Bora, AISA president, was in fact the star of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest.
Secondly, if the government saw fit to behave the way they did today, I’m sure that the Supreme Court’s comments in their hearing on Sunday would have had something to do with it, too. In fact, Neha Bora, who was a star of the CJP protest, was with us today. Hours after thousands turned up at the INDIA bloc’s march to the Supreme Court, which was effectively spearheaded by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, their party colleague, Shashi Tharoor, praised the central government and the Delhi Police for showing restraint and allowing the smooth conduct of the protest. “To the credit of the government and of the police, they did not behave in a heavy-handed manner. For the most part, despite barricades and, I thought, an unnecessarily large presence of policemen who had nothing really to do but to observe, the entire protest was allowed to be conducted without any interference from the police. “Look, let me say very bluntly to you that that is simply preposterous. As far as we’re concerned, we are the only national opposition to the BJP where nobody’s being beaten. “Personally, I don’t see it as a contest at all. She was on the same bus as the President of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi. I met her. She sweetly took a selfie with me. I mean, she’s a terrific girl. And I’m very, very pleased that she was with us. So, I don’t see this as a contest. I think we’re all fighting for the same principles that I believe the democrats in India, irrespective of political affiliation, would want.
He added that by doing so, the government — led by the Congress’s staunchest political opponent, the BJP — has shown “maturity”. And to my mind, that was actually a rather mature and sensible way for the government to respond to this,” he said. You’re not giving them enough credit,” he said. He further said that the Congress and the CJP are not jostling for competing political space.
