The protest meant to take the city “hostage” turned out to be a “flop show”, BJP leader Sambit Patra said on Saturday, even as he accused Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi of spreading anarchy in cahoots with foreign powers.

It was a victory of democracy over the mobocracy, Patra said, after hundreds of youths and several politicians who headed to the Jantar Mantar protest site were detained by the police.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Patra called Gandhi a “nalayak” leader, condemning his Friday remarks that President Droupadi Murmu did not deny the INDIA bloc’s “vote chori” allegation at a meeting.

“What is happening at Jantar Mantar and what is being shown on TV and across various social media handles does not represent the true story of India. India is peaceful, and India is moving forward with good governance,” Patra said

He alleged that there was an attempt to hold the national capital and the whole of India hostage through the protest.

“There were attempts to incite violence, physical altercations, and street battles here. It remained a flop show. Democracy triumphed over mob rule. Given the way democracy has asserted itself in Delhi today and the fact that the entire situation is under control, I wish to reiterate that the anarchists have failed, and their flop show did not succeed,” he added.

Central Delhi was turned into a fortress on Saturday with thousands of boots on the ground to thwart a protest called by the Cockroach Janata Party against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who is facing allegations of voter-list tampering under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and of bypassing his two colleagues to alter Form 6, a key document to register as a voter.