Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Sunday remained at the centre of the escalating agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as protests continued in Delhi for a third consecutive day and security forces were deployed in strength. Dipke has said the police action against protesters will only swell the mobilisation he has called at Jantar Mantar on October 10.
Around 5,000 Delhi Police personnel, including Rapid Action Force and other paramilitary personnel, were deployed ahead of Sunday’s planned marches from India Gate to Jantar Mantar. Police said permission had not been granted for the marches.
Dipke has said Delhi will witness a “massive mobilisation of young Indians” on October 10, warning that police action against students and activists would strengthen rather than weaken the agitation.
“Every attempt to suppress peaceful protesters will only bring more people to the streets and strengthen the march to Jantar Mantar,” Dipke said. He described dissent as a democratic right that “cannot be crushed through intimidation or force”.
His remarks came as demonstrations demanding Kumar’s resignation continued over the weekend. Protesters have alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, while the Election Commission and BJP have rejected allegations of wrongdoing or politically motivated manipulation.
Dipke had announced the October 10 protest immediately after the CJP’s large demonstration at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. He said CJP supporters and citizens from across India would converge on Delhi if Kumar did not resign.
“If Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign, cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi & protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10,” Dipke said.
He also made clear that police restrictions would not lead the CJP to abandon the demonstration. “If Delhi Police tries to stop us, wherever they stop us will become our Jantar Mantar,” he said.
Dipke has stressed that the October 10 agitation will be peaceful and urged citizens who support free and fair elections to participate. He has said the movement would follow Mahatma Gandhi’s path of peaceful protest.
Dipke has sharply criticised Delhi Police over its handling of the demonstrations, accusing it of attempting to suppress peaceful dissent. His allegations come after successive rounds of detentions as protesters tried to reach Jantar Mantar.
He also accused Delhi Police of acting like “henchmen of Amit Shah”, a reference to the Union Home Minister, whose ministry controls the force. This is Dipke’s political allegation against the police; Delhi Police has maintained security restrictions around the demonstrations and said Sunday’s marches did not have permission.
The latest protests have therefore become an important backdrop to Dipke’s October 10 call. Sunday’s security deployment included RAF and paramilitary personnel, drones and multi-layered barricades as authorities prepared for demonstrations between India Gate and Jantar Mantar.
Dipke is simultaneously facing a police case in Mumbai over the October 2 Shivaji Park demonstration. Mumbai Police have booked Dipke, CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka and several other organisers, along with more than 400 unidentified supporters, for allegedly holding an unlawful assembly and raising slogans during the protest.
Dipke has said the police case will not stop the campaign. The CJP has maintained that its agitation will continue until Kumar resigns, while Dipke has framed the campaign as one concerning electoral transparency and democratic rights. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of wrongdoing in the voter-roll revision.
The CJP had initially planned to take its agitation from Mumbai to other parts of the country before culminating in a protest at Jantar Mantar. Dipke has now fixed October 10 for the Delhi mobilisation and sought participation from supporters across India.
With protests continuing in the Capital and police deploying thousands of personnel, Dipke has sought to turn the authorities’ response into a rallying point for the next phase of the campaign. His message ahead of October 10 has remained consistent: the demonstration will be peaceful, but police restrictions will not prevent protesters from gathering.