Police on Saturday blocked entry to a seminar in the national capital, described as a “people’s summit on the G20”, that leading social activists and Opposition leaders were participating in.

Despite the police and central forces forcibly closing the gates of H.K.S. Surjeet Bhawan — a building that belongs to the CPM, which allows other organisations to use
the halls for events such as the ongoing seminar — the programme continued with those who were already inside. Saturday was the second day of the three-day We20 event.

Priya Dharshini, one of the organisers of the seminar, told The Telegraph: “After around 9.30am, some policemen came and started asking what was happening. An officer saw (CPM politburo member) Brinda Karat’s photo on the schedule, and that we have named the halls after Rohith Vemula, Gauri Lankesh and others. He asked why all these people’s names were there and said the event was against the G20, so it could not be allowed to continue. After around 11.30am, some officers locked the gate from outside so that no one could go in or out.”

The news agency PTI reported, quoting a police officer: “DDU Marg is a sensitive zone and in view of the upcoming G20 event, no gathering without any prior permission or intimation can be allowed, hence the organisers were advised to remove tents (within the premises) and asked not to continue the programme without a valid permission, the officer said.”

Delhi police officers did not respond to phone calls and an email from this newspaper. Delhi police report to the Centre.

Among those inside when the police arrived were Congress MP and communications chief Jairam Ramesh and JDU parliamentarian Aneel Hegde, who were participating in a session on how the Narendra Modi government had fared on tackling climate change. Land rights activist Medha Patkar, who too was to speak at the session, managed to break through the police cordon.

Ramesh told this newspaper that he could deliver his lecture before leaving. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “It is extraordinary that Delhi Police is stopping people from attending the We20 meeting organised by activists representing We, The People, inside a building that belongs to the CPM. The meeting is perfectly peaceful. There are no street protests. I managed to enter at 10.30am before Delhi Police started its operations but had difficulty exiting now. This is New India Democracy.”

The organisers — a collective of NGOs, trade unions and activists not affiliated to the CPM — said in a statement: “Even as multiple sessions were underway at HKS Surjeet Bhawan in Delhi as part of the We20 programme, a forum where representatives of people’s movements, trade unions, civil society, were gathered to discuss and debate the implications of the Modi government, a large battalion of Delhi Police swept into the venue demanding the seminar be shut down. None of the participants agreed, demanded the police leave and also ensure the seminar participants’ fundamental right to meet and discuss public concerns is protected.”

They added: “When G20 leaders gather in Delhi in a few weeks, they will be walked around Delhi, and tall claims will be made that India is a liberal democracy. All they need to do is contrast the actual diversity of India, its peoples, languages, its faiths, and its cultural and natural biodiversity, with what is being projected through G20 and C20 (the official NGO platform for the G20) platforms in India. It is instead a picture of majoritarian, cultural imposition — all of which is nothing short of using global forums to promote the bigoted and highly divisive Hindutva agenda that Modi champions.”

The organisers were still at the DCP (central)’s office to seek permission for the concluding day of the event on Sunday. If permission is not granted, Priya Dharshini said, “The event will continue with those already present inside who will stay there through the night”.

“Today also some participants stranded outside gave their talks over video call,” she added.

The CPM politburo said in a statement: “The action of the Delhi Police, to try and stop a seminar-cum-workshop being held at the Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhavan in New Delhi on alternative policies with regard to the G20, was totally uncalled for and an attempt to suppress dissenting opinions being voiced…. The police sought to stop the meeting stating that it had not got police permission. No police permission was ever required for such meetings or seminars in private buildings.”

RTI and labour activist Nikhil Dey couldn’t get past the police, even after a long argument with them. He tweeted: “Clearly this global elite & its Indian leadership is petrified of people’s voices.”

In March, the police prohibited a seminar on “Understanding Fascism in Present India Context” by the Telangana-based “Bharat Bachao” forum in the same building. Delhi High Court later permitted the event to be held as scheduled on March 11 and 12 with prior information to the police on those attending. Such seminars at the Gandhi Peace Foundation nearby have also been stalled in the recent past.