Railways and democracy

Ahead of the Jantar Mantar 20 protest on Saturday the nation witnessed extraordinary prohibitions on trains entering the Capital the kind India has not seen since IndependenceIn the hours before one of the biggest faceoffs wersquove seen between the state and its people in recent years mail and express trains scheduled to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday were suspended citing congestion in the Capital due to the impending protest by the Cockroach Janta Party CJPTransport historian and midday City Editor Rajendra B Akelkar tells us that while sectionbased freezes of the railways is not unusual during the times of unrest what is unprecedented is the scale of the clampdown this time ldquoMany observers have been saying that this is the first time since Independence that such governmentenforced restrictions on trains have been put in force by the Indian Railways Historical records and archives show that there have been protests train restrictions and such instances of lsquosecurity lockdownsrsquo in the seven decades since Independence What is unprecedented in postIndependence India however is the lsquoperimeter freezersquo at this national scale to avert a civil protestrdquo he saysmidday City Editor Rajendra B AklekarOne of the most notable past examples of stringent restrictions on the railways is during the Partition ldquoDuring the Partition the railways were in flux assets and infrastructure were being split between the two separated nations and new systems were being established Systems were under stress and there were riots across various parts of the country So traffic had to be regulated and movement was curtailed to control the situationrdquo says AklekarThe author of Halt Station India points out that the next big instance came when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi implemented the highly criticised Emergency ldquoThe next major instance of a largescale nationallevel traffic restriction or limitation came during the Emergency 1975 to 1977 That was the time when there were documented instances of railway restrictionsrdquo he saysBombay as the city was known then also saw heavy curbs on the railways to control unrest in the rsquo80s and rsquo90s ldquoIn 1982 there were police riots in Bombay when the Maharashtra Police went on strike and trains were diverted and curtailed Next came the Sikh riots of 1984 when trains had to be regulated for security purposes followed by the Bombay riots a decade later in 199293 when there were instances of trains being diverted detained and cancelledrdquo he addsAklekar further points out that in the 21st century the GurjarJat protests around 2011 and the Punjab farmersrsquo protests in 2020 led to similar crackdownsldquoBut the latest instance is the first governmentenforced nationalscale perimeter freeze in modern times ahead of a planned civil protestrdquo Aklekar finally addsWhy does it matter Because when it comes to movement of the masses the railways is still the heaviest lifter of all It was AISA president Neha Borarsquos transport mode of choice when she embarked on the GenZ Mahajutan Yatra across Uttar Pradesh to connect with the youth on studentsrsquo issues When railway services were suspended during the COVID19 lockdown we saw the mass migration of workers on foot ndash yet another unprecedented sightldquoThe limitations of the publicrsquos access to the trains or mass transit systems during the protests is something we never thought would happen but thatrsquos whatrsquos happening nowrdquo says activist Samya Korde adding that it is in line with restrictions seen during the last CJP protest too when Korde was placed under house arrest ldquoLast time I was one of the few who were detained at home It is a reminder that protesting is our constitutional right and we must exercise itrdquo she says Korde was detained while on her way to August Kranti maidan and released by Saturday nightDCP R Ragasudha South Zone2 confirmed that they have detained protesters as no permission were provided to conduct protests at August Kranti Maidan on SaturdayWith input by Aishwarya IyerlsquoMobilising is harder nowrsquoAamir KaziAll India Studentsrsquo Federation AISF Mumbai President Aamir Kazi who was at the Azad Maidan protest on Friday says that not only has mobilising become harder with trains to Delhi being stopped but even closer to home activists are under extraordinary scrutiny ldquoWith the trains out of course mobilisation is difficult I was even asked by a police officer if I was headed towards Delhi To which I replied lsquoHow can I reach in time for the Delhi protest if I am in Mumbai on Friday and no trains are going therersquordquoAISF has claimed that 14 of its members have been taken off Goa Express and detained at Itarsi The police have told media personnel that the students were released on Friday but refused to leave the resort where they were detained When this reporter last spoke to Kazi he said he was taking shelter in a building surrounded by police personnel