New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has called a Tricolour protest at Central Park in Connaught Place at 5 pm on Friday, with founder Abhijeet Dipke saying the gathering would demonstrate that “waving a Tiranga is not a crime”. Co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are currently in judicial custody for ‘trespassing’ after they entered Jantar Mantar with the national flag after it was delisted as a protest site by the Home ministry.
At a press conference at the Press Club of India Thursday, Dipke, AISA president Neha Bora, actor-activist Prakash Raj, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, SFI leader Aishe Ghosh, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan and Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union president Sheikh Salauddin criticised the police action against protesters and raised allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
There were three demands made at the press conference—immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged SIR irregularities, the release of Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and all detained protesters, an end to “police brutality” against peaceful protesters, and restoration of Jantar Mantar as a protest site.
Dipke asked why CEC Gyanesh Kumar is “so important” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“For the last 10-15 days, all student organisations and the youth of Delhi have been fighting on the streets. They are being dragged along the streets…When the Opposition of this country also took to the streets, they too were detained. The Leader of Opposition was also detained, and when former chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan, took to the streets, they too were detained. For whom? For one Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.
Dipke also brought up the curbs on railway train services and closure of some metro stations following the CJP’s 10 October protest call, and asked why security personnel from Jammu & Kashmir had been deployed in the national capital.
“Why is Gyanesh Kumar so important to Narendra Modi? Why should we not believe that Gyanesh Kumar is helping Narendra Modi win elections? If he is not helping him win elections, why is Narendra Modi providing him with so much protection?” he asked.
AISA president Neha Bora accused the authorities of harassing journalists covering the protests. “We saw how cameras were snatched from journalists and they were told they would not get their cameras (back) if they cover this.”
Bora also brought up the allegation that Delhi ACP Vivek Bhagat had sexually harassed a woman journalist, and the counter-FIR had been registered against the journalist for alleged casteist remarks, after she approached the police with her complaint.
“When common people approach the police seeking justice, the police, instead of maintaining law and order, support a particular political party and crack down on the public itself. This is a classic example of what we have been seeing in this country for so long,” she said.
Actor-activist Prakash Raj alleged that Form 7—used to raise objections to the inclusion of a person’s name in electoral rolls—was being used for the “silent erasure” of Muslim voters. He claimed people in 23 districts of Karnataka who could not travel to Delhi to protest were effectively being silenced by the process.
“Form 7 is used to delete Muslim voters, silent erasure of the voices of people across 23 districts of Karnataka who can’t reach Delhi,” he said.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan condemned the police action against peaceful protesters, citing videos of lathi-charge. He described the situation as “gunda raj”.
“We all want regime change, getting regime change is every citizen’s constitutional right. That is why the Supreme Court had said that the sedition law made by the British was unconstitutional and that is why, until and unless violence or causing public disorder is not encouraged, only creating disaffection against the government is not an offence under our Constitution,” he said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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Sibal and Bushan are the two legal pillars for all kinds of pests – cockroaches included.
As such, the Union government must look into the activities of these two. It should not be a problem finding something concrete against Kapil Sibal – as is well known, he benefited immensely from the organised loot during the heyday of UPA.