New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram | CPI(M) leaders detained by the Delhi Police during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR of electoral rolls took to social media to condemn the action, while party leaders in Keralam also denounced the detentions.

In a Facebook post shared after being taken into custody, Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan accused the NDA government of turning the national capital into an "open prison" and attempting to suppress protests through the deployment of armed police and paramilitary forces.

Vijayan alleged that the protest was against attempts, with the support of those in power, to undermine people's voting rights, which he described as the foundation of democracy.

He accused the Centre of attempting to turn India into a "police state" by detaining protesters on their way to demonstrations and arresting people indiscriminately. He said the struggle to protect the Constitution and voting rights would continue.

CPI(M) leader P Rajeev also recorded a video from the police vehicle in which he was being taken after his detention, saying the protest to save democracy in India would continue despite the arrests.

"All central leaders of CPI(M) took part in the protest. They have arrested and shifted us in a jail-like vehicle. We are travelling in a vehicle for the past one hour," he said.

Rajeev described the agitation as a landmark protest in the country's history and urged all believers in democracy to take it forward more forcefully.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) leader P A Muhammad Riyas condemned the police action in a Facebook post, describing it as "undemocratic".

Riyas, the Beypore MLA and son-in-law of Vijayan, said the authorities should not assume that they could suppress protests by arresting party leaders.

He said the right to protest was fundamental to democracy and asserted that the party would intensify its struggle to protect democratic rights.

Senior CPI(M) leader V Sivankutty shared a social media post carrying the slogan "Hum Leke Rahenge", while the CPI(M)'s Keralam unit called for protests against the police action in Delhi.