Curbs on protests mark India’s second freedom movement: Dipankar Bhattacharya

CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya with All India Students' Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora. File | Photo Credit: PTI

CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Friday (October 16, 2026) called for an intensified struggle against alleged voter fraud and described curbs on the right to protest as "nothing short of India's second freedom movement".

In a post on X, Mr. Bhattacharya said people took to the streets to defend their right to vote against what he called “vote chori” and were then forced to fight for their right to protest.

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“They started vote chori. We came out to defend our right to vote. They started curbing our right to protest. We came out to fight for our right to protest,” he said.