Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das on Sunday, October 10, claimed that the Centre is preparing to arrest the party’s top leaders, days before the group takes its demand for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to Delhi.
In a post on X, Das named party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh and Ratna among those he said the government wants to put behind bars. However expressing confidence that the crackdown would backfire and that the party’s young supporters would keep up the fight whether or not its leaders are free. He said the leaders were prepared for jail “or worse”, and called on people across India to build the biggest possible turnout from October 10.
The CJP has called a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Saturday, October 10.
Shivaji Park speech
The call for Delhi was announced by Dipke at a rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Friday, October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. He told the crowd that young people from across the country would march to the capital if Kumar did not resign. He called the planned protest “Jantar Mantar 2.0” and gave a call to “Chalo Delhi”.
Thousands of young people attended the rally, where Dipke targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Kumar. He also attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Dipke described Mahatma Gandhi as the soul of India, BR Ambedkar as its backbone and Jawaharlal Nehru as its mind. He said Modi could never become bigger than the three. He also said the country would be run on Gandhi’s principles and not those of Nathuram Godse, and accused the Prime Minister of making people stand in queues, citing demonetisation, COVID vaccines and now the voters’ list.
Dipke alleged the BJP won states it had never won even at the peak of the Modi wave after voters were deleted from the rolls. He also said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted “One Nation One Party”, not just one nation, one election.
Run-ins with police
A day earlier, on Thursday, October 1, Dipke was briefly detained by Mumbai Police at Marine Drive after he appeared with supporters holding placards against Kumar. He was taken to the Marine Drive Police Station and later left it.
CJP first began a protest on May 16 as an online satire of the political establishment. Its name plays on that of the BJP. The party’s official X account was withheld in India on May 21.
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