New Delhi, October 10, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
BJP MP and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday criticised Opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over their protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, asserting that India was “not a Banana Republic” and that the country would be governed through Parliament, not the streets.
Prasad’s remarks came after several Opposition leaders, including former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were detained after attempting to participate in a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. CJP leaders were also among those detained. Delhi Police had denied permission for the protest.
Addressing a press conference, Prasad said India had never bowed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and would not do so in the future.
Referring to developments over the preceding days, he claimed that Indian democracy had thwarted attempts to create anarchy and maintained that Parliament, rather than street protests, was the appropriate forum for governing the country.
The BJP leader also cited the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s bypoll victories in Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry on Friday, arguing that the results demonstrated public support for the ruling alliance despite the protests in Delhi and elsewhere.
Prasad said the BJP was not opposed to protests in a democracy but accused Opposition parties of using street demonstrations as a response to their electoral defeats.
“Protests should take place in a democracy. But you have weaponised street protests because of your electoral defeats. And the surprising thing is that you are not even moving together,” he said.
Taking aim at the INDIA bloc, Prasad alleged that Opposition parties were competing with one another even while participating in the protests.
He referred to Rahul Gandhi’s earlier involvement in the agitation, followed by the CJP’s protest and the arrival of Kejriwal, Banerjee and leaders from the CPI and CPI(M). He accused the Opposition leaders of engaging in political theatrics and disrupting daily life in the national capital over the past several days.
Prasad further claimed that the public had rejected what he described as an attempt by Opposition parties to create disorder, asserting that the dignity of democratic institutions had prevailed over their alleged efforts to foment anarchy.
The controversy centres on the Opposition’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and comes amid a broader political dispute over electoral issues and the conduct of the electoral process.
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