Mumbai : Activist Tehseen Poonawalla on Saturday claimed that Delhi Police placed him under house arrest ahead of his proposed protest march and indefinite hunger strike against the Centre’s E20 petrol policy. “An entire battalion of Delhi Police, including women officers, has put me under house arrest.
Nitin Gadkari is scared of ethanol,” Poonawalla wrote in a post on X. In another video, Poonawalla is seen questioning police officers over his detention, asking how he could be stopped without any official order or written documents. “No papers, nothing. I am under house arrest. Azaadi ke 15 din pehle aap mujhe detain kar rahe (You are detaining me 15 days before Independence Day),” he tells a police officer. Responding to his objections, a police officer says the proposed protest march could lead to a law and order situation and urges him to cooperate with the authorities.
Poonawalla’s protest comes in the wake of the Cockroach Janta Party’s month-long agitation over exam paper leaks, which culminated in the resignation of former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He has now launched a campaign against Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and the government’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, seeking to mobilise public support over concerns surrounding E20 petrol.
The Centre’s rollout of E20 fuel—a blend of 80 per cent petrol and 20 per cent ethanol—has faced criticism from opposition parties as well as consumer groups.
Instead, he announced that he would do it alone. Without any other participant. He said on camera that he would walk from Abdul Kalam Marg to Gandhi Smrithi. This he said, would not violate any law including Section 144 (unlawful assembly). He clarified that no member of Team Bharat would accompany him. At Gandhi Smriti, he would do Maun Vrat (silent protest) and would not talk to anyone. He would also do a hunger strike for the whole day. Even in this video, he reiterated that ethanol-blended petrol is a scam and that it is harming vehicles across the country.
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