New Delhi: Leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) on Sunday vowed to continue their agitation against the Centre and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following their release from detention, saying the movement would expand beyond Delhi until the poll chief resigned.
At a press conference, CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka criticised the police action against the party’s leaders and supporters, arguing that a peaceful demonstration at a designated protest site should not be treated as a law-and-order threat.
“We are not dangerous criminals, nor are we going to protest outside Narendra Modi’s or Amit Shah’s homes,” Ranka said. He alleged that he, Saurav Das and Abhijit Deepke had been “abducted” from inside an aircraft before being taken into custody.
Ranka said the agitation would continue until Kumar stepped down, with the party planning to take its campaign against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to other parts of the country.
CJP leader Saurav Das accused the Narendra Modi-led government of creating what he described as an “Emergency-like situation” in the country. He alleged that the authorities were acting in an authoritarian manner against citizens and journalists.
Das further claimed that the leaders had been detained without formal notice, their mobile phones had been seized and they had been prevented from speaking to a lawyer.
The allegations were made by the CJP leaders after their release. The party has maintained that its campaign will continue until its demands concerning the Chief Election Commissioner and the electoral roll revision process are addressed.
