Dipke said the details of the Oct 10 protest would be kept as a surprise, while reiterating that CJP would go ahead with its planned demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Dipke said the details of the Oct 10 protest would be kept as a surprise, while reiterating that CJP would go ahead with its planned demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Dipke said the details of the Oct 10 protest would be kept as a surprise, while reiterating that CJP would go ahead with its planned demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday said he and his colleagues were prepared for detention or arrest by the Delhi Police ahead of their planned October 10 protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

CJP and other Opposition groups have been demanding Kumar's resignation over his alleged unilateral decisions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Speaking at a press conference attended by party office-bearers Sourav Das, Ratna Singh, and Afreen Nawaz, Dipke said Thursday’s Bengaluru protest by the Anti-SIR Alliance had been a massive success and had succeeded in drawing the attention of the youth.

He thanked actor and activist Prakash Raj for organising the event, which was attended by Kannada writer Devanuru Mahadeva and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.

Dipke questioned the restrictions on protests in Delhi and asked why a demonstration could not be held there if protests had taken place in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

“If it is possible to have protests in Bengaluru and Mumbai, why not in Delhi? Is it the personal property of Amit Shah? Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. It is a designated protest site. The more they suppress the voices of people, the angrier they get,” he said.

Referring to the detention of Deepak Balian in Rajasthan and the removal of parliamentarians from protests, Dipke questioned whether this was how the government intended to engage with protesters.

“We are not afraid of being imprisoned or detained. We will walk the path of Gandhi’s non-violence. It’s the police that is violent,” he claimed.

Sourav Das, co-convenor of CJP, said young people associated with the organisation had already faced what he described as illegal detentions across the state.

Calling SIR the “biggest scam in the country”, Dipke said he was shocked to see voters being declared dead even when they were alive.

“All we demand is free and fair elections and it is not possible as long as you have SIR and Gyanesh helming it. There has to be a neutral and unbiased way of electing the Chief Election Commissioner,” he said.

Dipke said the details of the October 10 protest would be kept as a surprise, while reiterating that CJP would go ahead with its planned demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

TAGS