Annamalai quotes Modi’s 2011 ‘war’ remark to hit Centre over CJP curbs

Former Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai has criticized the central government's handling of protests, citing Prime Minister Modi's own 2011 rhetoric regarding the right to dissent. He argues that current measures against protesters are excessive and undemocratic.
Why it matters
Highlights internal political friction within the BJP and broader debates regarding civil liberties and protest rights in India.
Former Tamil Nadu BJP president and ex-IPS officer K Annamalai on Wednesday targeted the Centre for its handling of the Cockroach Janta Party protesters, the de-notification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site, preventive detentions, and the use of pellet guns by the Delhi Police. In a post on X, Annamalai, who resigned from the primary membership of the party in June, invoked the 2011 crackdown on the anti-corruption campaign in Delhi and wrote that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, had said that “if his hands were not tied, he would have gone to Delhi and waged war against the central government.” He said, “In my opinion, what the Hon PM said then was absolutely right, and there is nothing wrong about it.
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