The 31 conditions laid down by Indore Police for Rahul's Chhatron Ki Goonj

• Indore Police has imposed 31 conditions for Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Goonj event, covering security, attendance and crowd management.

• A new condition requires coaching institutes to take responsibility for the safety of students attending the event, drawing criticism from Congress MP Pawan Khera.

• The event was shifted to a much larger venue after organisers were denied the Nehru Stadium; organisers say registrations have crossed one lakh.

Late on the evening of Friday, 18 September, Congress MP Pawan Khera released a new condition laid down by Indore Police for the fifth edition of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's student outreach 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' on Saturday evening. 

The series of events, designed as a dialogue between students and Gandhi, has already been to Kota, Dehradun, Prayagraj and Pune before travelling to Indore. With the Congress planning to take the event to several other cities and towns across the country, a template to create as many obstacles as possible is slowly emerging. 

As per the new condition, Indore Police requires coaching institutes to give a written undertaking that students who attend the event will do so at their own risk and that the coaching institutes will be responsible for their security. Khera rightly sees this less as a security measure and more as a threat. It is shameful, he said in a late evening tweet, that Indore Police is now resorting to intimidating participants.

The undertaking designed to strike fear and uncertainty follows the police pulling out the report of an inquiry commission set up to examine the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 by LTTE terrorists. While the report had pointed to lapses in security, Indore Police have justified their security protocol on the basis of a threat perception which does not appear to have been shared with the LoP and organisers. The Union government had, in fact, withdrawn NSG (National Security Guard) protection from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in 2019 after assessing that they no longer required a higher level of security. 

All the four previous editions of 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' were held in the BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The fifth, too, is being held in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, where the party has been in power for almost a quarter of a century. All the venues — Kota, Dehradun, Prayagraj, Pune and Indore — are BJP and RSS strongholds. 

The organisers were refused permission to use Indore's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium — with a capacity of 25,000 — citing an old court order that only sporting events be allowed there. While the stadium, built in 1964, has been overtaken by the newer and bigger Holkar Stadium designed to serve as a national and international sporting venue, the final venue — a ground named Bharat Jodo Maidan — is likely to accommodate 100,000 people. 

The much larger and less secure venue was apparently meant to highlight sparse attendance relative to the ground. Organisers have claimed that registration for the event has exceeded one lakh. 

The Indore Development Authority had leased the ground to the Congress for Rs 10 lakh for three days beginning 17 September. Since the organisers began preparations on 14 September, an additional amount of Rs 4 lakh was levied following a complaint by the BJP. Restrictions have been justified by the IDA and Indore Police on security grounds, who have demanded strict crowd control, strong barricading, emergency exits and evacuation planning, security screening at entry points and security control rooms.  

The IDA granted the venue with five publicly reported conditions, which held that organisers are responsible for security arrangements; necessary security measures must be provided by organisers; permissions from all relevant departments must be obtained before the event and separate permission is needed for use of a sound system. 

The list of conditions tracked by AI are the following: 

• Organisers must submit a sworn affidavit stating the expected attendance  

• Male and female attendee counts must be provided separately  

• Details of attendees' origin must be provided, including district, tehsil, and college  

• Travel details must be supplied, including how many come by bus, private vehicle, or train  

• Vehicle details and drivers' information must be submitted  

• Attendance cannot exceed the venue's approved capacity  

• Police retain the right to stop further entry once capacity is reached  

• Around 1,500 volunteers must be deployed  

• At least 500 of those volunteers must be women  

• Six entry gates must be created  

• Eight exit gates must be created  

• About 40 CCTV cameras must be installed  

• CCTV live feed must be available to the police control room  

• Recordings must be preserved (reports mention retaining them for 30 days)  

• Twenty door frame metal detectors (DFMDs) are required  

• Around 30 to 40 hand held metal detectors (HHMDs) are required  

• A 25-30 feet security buffer (D-Zone) must be maintained in front of the stage  

• Double barricading must be installed  

• Ambulance and medical teams must be available on site  

• Names, addresses, and photo IDs of people appearing on the stage must be submitted 24 hours in advance  

• Separate entry and exit management arrangements are required  

• Emergency evacuation planning is mandatory  

• Sector-wise crowd management plans are required  

• Mock drills must be conducted  

• Enhanced security cordons must surround the stage area  

• Use of drones/UAVs is prohibited