Guwahati: Cockroach Janta Party co-convenor and spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka has been detained in Assam’s capital along with other leaders and activists of the organisation minutes before their volunteer meeting scheduled for Sunday, September 27.
The police were reportedly blocking the venue since the morning, barring volunteers from reaching the hilltop meeting site in Guwahati. The CJP was reported to have organised a meeting of 200 to 300 volunteers from across the state.
“They stopped us from holding a peaceful volunteers’ meeting and are now taking us away from the venue against our will,” a CJP leader said while being taken away in a police bus.
Himanta Biswa is scared: Ranka
Ranka, also being taken away by police, told reporters that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma “is scared.”
“Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared that if we show the reality of schools in Assam, the country will come to know about their condition. Himanta Biswa Sarma dargaye hai ki kis tarah se Kaziranga me hamare logon ka haq cheena jaraha hai, kis tarike se jal, jungle, jameen cheenkar inki corporates ko dee jarahi hai. Himanta Biswa Sarma dargaye hai ki kis tarah se man-made floods create kargaye and logon ne jaan di. Lekin hum Himanta Biswa se darne wale nai hai.
(Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared that we have highlighted how the rights of our people in Kaziranga are being snatched away, and how water, forests, and land are being seized and handed over to corporates. He is scared that the man-made floods are resulting in the loss of lives. But we are not going to be intimidated by Himanta Biswa).”
CJP member Ankit Bhardwaj told Times of India that the senior leadership of the organisation, including Ranka, Prem Aakash, and him along with other Assam volunteers, were detained. “We have been taken to a police facility in Guwahati.”
Dipke alleges lawyers barred from meeting detained CJP members
CJP founder and national convenor Abhijeet Dipke alleged that police are not letting the lawyers inside the “unknown” place where Ranka and others were detained.
In a post on X, Dipke said, “Lawyers are standing outside where Ashutosh and co. are detained but police is not letting them in.”
In a previous post, he had claimed that Assam Police were taking Ranka and the CJP members to an “unknown location.”
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