Caught unawares by the massive turnout during the July 20 protests at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the government and Delhi Police prepared well in advance for Saturday’s Cockroach Janta Party-led agitation in the national capital.Enhanced preparations, a revised security strategy and active social media surveillance of CJP leaders and their supporters began early in the day. Delhi Police and paramilitary forces were instructed by the top government leadership to ensure that the protests did not swell to the scale witnessed earlier.Official sources said the heightened security measures were prompted by intelligence inputs suggesting that anti-national elements could attempt to infiltrate the October 10 protests.The announcement of support for the CJP agitation by Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait added to the administration’s concerns. However, Tikait stayed away from the streets of Delhi, limiting himself to asking BKU supporters to travel to the national capital if they wished or stage protests in their respective areas.Even so, his announcement prompted the authorities to take the situation seriously.Responding to criticism over the extensive security arrangements across Delhi and the potentially adverse publicity they could generate for the government on social media, BJP sources said maintaining law and order and ensuring public safety remained the priority.“Apart from this, the CJP campaign and the entire Opposition-led agitation over the Election Commission issue have no basis. It is a falsehood sought to be justified through these political protests, but the allegations of vote theft have no ground. This is not a mass issue. People are with the Prime Minister, and the results of the bypolls yesterday have again proved that. In an electoral democracy, people speak at the hustings, and that voice is with us,” a senior BJP leader said.The leader described the narratives being pushed by Rahul Gandhi and the CJP as “nothing but social media noise”.Meanwhile, police sources said the heavy deployment was not intended to prevent protesters from holding their agitation but to stop anti-social and anti-national elements from exploiting the protest call and jeopardising public safety.“We have to act on intel and we did,” a senior source said.