New Delhi | Hitting out at the Modi government, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday claimed that Delhi is witnessing a "war-like deployment", and said "our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ".

He said the government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression.

Tharoor, who was in Berlin this week, said he returned to the national capital after 2 am and has rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now.

"Checkpoints every few hundred metres, concrete barriers and spike strips laid across our roads, a "war-like" deployment of 22,000 police and paramilitary across the city, 250 trains cancelled and 45 metro stations closed, and reports of young people being detained from their own homes and the streets in and around Delhi -- all to prevent citizens from peacefully raising questions about the integrity of our elections," he said on X.

"Most regressive (as well as repressive) is the suspension of the internet in the heart of the national capital," the former Union minister said.

Freedom of movement stands completely shackled, he said.

Jantar Mantar was designated precisely so that citizens could voice dissent in the centre of Delhi, and today even the roads leading to it have been declared out of bounds, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

"One is entitled to ask where this extraordinary manpower and urgency disappear when women in our capital need protection," Tharoor said.

Noting that those detained will have to be released, Tharoor asked if the protesters simply return on Monday, will the authorities lock down the national capital all over again.

"Our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ," he said.

A government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome questions about them, whereas one that turns its capital into a fortress to avoid them only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress, he said.

"The government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression," Tharoor asserted.

Barricades will do nothing to restore faith in the Election Commission, and the sooner it answers the public's questions, the sooner calm will be restored, he said.

"The strength of a democracy is measured by how it treats those who question its working, and by that measure, what we have seen today is utterly shameful and unconscionable," Tharoor said.

Delhi Police on Saturday detained over 500 protesters, who were trying to reach Jantar Mantar for the proposed CJP stir against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) proposed protest at Jantar Mantar, police sources said over 600 people with criminal records were also detained across all 15 districts of the national capital as part of preventive measures.

Police personnel have been deployed at strategic locations across the city, particularly in areas leading to Jantar Mantar and other sensitive locations, to prevent any untoward incident.

The security arrangements include heightened surveillance and monitoring of the movement of people suspected of attempting to disrupt law and order. Police are also keeping a close watch on possible mobilisation efforts ahead of the proposed demonstration.

The proposed protest has prompted heightened security measures in the national capital, with police maintaining a strict vigil to prevent any breach of peace.

Delhi Police has denied permission to the CJP to hold its proposed demonstration at Jantar Mantar, citing security considerations and procedural requirements.

Police have said that prohibitory orders are in force in the New Delhi area and appealed to people to abide by the restrictions.

The CJP has called the proposed demonstration against the CEC over allegations of voter-list manipulation during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and changes relating to Form 6, used for voter registration.