Protesters seeking passage of Whistleblowers Bill outside BJP office detained

The protest saw families of whistleblowers — Satyendra Dubey, Amit Jethwa and Ram Thakur — participate in the agitation. Friends of several ‘slain’ whistleblowers came to Delhi from Bihar, Rajhasthan and Gujarat to be a part of the protest.

On Monday, protesters said Congress leaders had spoken to them and assured them that the Bills would be passed. “However, after today’s turn of events, it seems they were mere assurances,” Nikhil Dey  from National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) said.

The BJP, according to the protesters, seemed less sympathetic to their cause. Protesters said no BJP leader met them, and police were called in to detain the protesters in the evening.

“The reason for the detention, as we were told unofficially, was that there was a high-profile meeting scheduled to take place at the office. Police forcefully removed the peaceful protesters, including women and children, from the spot,” Dey said.
Protesters said they will continue to protest outside the BJP office on Wednesday.

Police said the protesters were detained for almost an hour. Police said they made the protesters were disperse after traffic in the area was affected.

The protesters said they had written to different political parties, including the Congress, the BJP, Samajwadi Party, BSP, Trinamool Congress, DMK and CPM. The letter was supported by Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Anjali Bhardwaj of the NCPRI.
The protesters said if the Bill is not passed in this Lok Sabha session, the matter will just fizzle out.

“The Bill is essential. It will offer protection to whistleblowers. But the Congress-led UPA government has been very sluggish in terms of the pending Bills,” Dey said.