Farmers' front protests across India today against voter-roll revision as CJP leaders are summoned by police

The Morcha has also criticised how protesters were handled in Delhi. It condemned what it called harsh treatment and harassment of demonstrators, including young women students, by Delhi Police, and warned that farmers across the country will back students if the action continues. It pointed out that the Supreme Court has not taken notice of the actions in the capital on its own.

A movement that is widening

The first Jantar Mantar demonstration on 10 October was called by the Cockroach Janta Party and student groups. In the days before it, the Morcha warned the authorities against using force and objected to house arrests, detentions and the closure of Metro stations and cancellation of trains. Rakesh Tikait's Bharatiya Kisan Union backed the protest in a video, as did the faction led by Gurnam Singh Chaduni, and the National Jat Mahasabha urged people of every section to join what it called a "Save Democracy" agitation. Lawyers planned a march from the Supreme Court to Jantar Mantar. A joint statement by Left parties accused the police of acting under the Union home ministry's direction and said that denying permission and restricting transport violated the right to assemble peacefully. Delhi was reported to have been turned into a "fortress" ahead of the protest.

Farmers' groups have also been showing up elsewhere. Most constituents of the Morcha support the three-day strike by Haryana's electricity workers, and farmers' and Dalit groups planned rallies in Karnataka on 23 October.

The CJP leaders and the Crime Branch

The two Cockroach Janta Party leaders freed on Wednesday, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, have been summoned by the Delhi Police Crime Branch together with party member Ajinkya Shinde. They were asked to appear for questioning on Thursday at noon at the Crime Branch office in Rajouri Garden, in the Jantar Mantar trespass case. A report says the three sought more time. They were among 14 people detained on 13 October for allegedly entering Jantar Mantar, which has been de-notified as a protest site. Shinde was released on a bail bond, and Das and Ranka spent a week in judicial custody before a magistrate released them on Rs 50,000 bonds and written undertakings not to call protests at Jantar Mantar. The matter is listed again on Friday at 3 pm.

The opposition has other dates in its calendar. The INDIA bloc has been allowed to hold a rally at Ramlila Grounds on 1 November, and a Rahul Gandhi-led march in Delhi was permitted earlier. The government calls the present protests political, and BJP leaders argue that the opposition cannot gather the numbers to move against the Chief Election Commissioner in Parliament. The protests are also being watched against a possible special session of Parliament on delimitation and women's reservation.

For the farm unions, Friday is a test of reach. A strong turnout in district towns would show that the agitation has moved beyond Delhi's students. A thin one would let the government argue that it has not.