Police detained two former Chief Ministers, Pinarayi Vijayan and Mamata Banerjee, who joined the youth groups’ protests in Delhi on Saturday (October 10, 2026) in a show of solidarity.
Keep track | Anti-CEC protest LIVE updates: Supreme Court to hold Sunday special hearing on contempt petition against shutdown of transit corridors, metro stations across Delhi The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership managed to take the police by surprise after staying overnight at Kerala House, which is just a few metres from Jantar Mantar — a location that the police sought to make completely out of bounds for protesters. Party leaders, including general secretary M.A. Baby and senior leaders Brinda Karat, John Brittas, K.N. Balagopal, K.K. Shailaja, P. Sivadasan, and P. Rajeeve, marched out of Kerala House towards Jantar Mantar, shouting slogans. They were detained immediately by the police. Forty minutes later, Mr. Vijayan, along with Mr. Brittas and Mr. Balagopal, were again put into a police jeep and taken to a different location. Delhi is under siege and basic civil liberties are being taken away,” Mr. A few hours later, Ms. Banerjee, who was sitting on a dharna at the South Avenue bus stand, right in front of the MPs’ flats, along with Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, Lok Sabha MPs Protima Mandal and Samirul Islam, and former MP Saket Gokhale, were picked by the Delhi Police. Speaking over the phone from Dwarka North police station, Ms. “The Delhi Police treated us like criminals, like murderers. We were put in a prison van and driven for two hours around Delhi. It is the first time in my political career that I have sat in a prison van,” Ms.
“If a person who served as Chief Minister for 10 years is treated like this, imagine the plight of the common man. “I was going to return to Kolkata by a 9 p.m. flight, [but] I have decided to stay back.
Brittas, a Rajya Sabha MP, said. Banerjee said that she and her colleagues were treated like “criminals” despite just six of them sitting peacefully without raising slogans or holing placards. Banerjee said. I will march along with other INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc leaders to the Supreme Court,” she said.
