The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has renewed its appeal to supporters to march towards Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, vowing to continue its agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar despite a sweeping security crackdown and the detention of its senior leaders.
In a video message shared on X, Ajinkya Shinde, the party’s national organisation in-charge, alleged that the Centre was attempting to prevent people from joining the demonstration by restricting movement and detaining those travelling to the protest venue.
Shinde claimed that three senior CJP leaders, founder and convener Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, had been detained at Delhi airport shortly after their flight landed on Saturday.
The party alleged that the detentions and restrictions were intended to prevent people from uniting against what it described as electoral irregularities. It also accused the government of effectively placing the national capital under an emergency to stop the gathering.
‘Wherever police stop you, make it your Jantar Mantar’
Despite the restrictions, Shinde urged supporters not to abandon the demonstration if they were prevented from reaching the designated venue.
“Wherever the police stop you, you should form your Jantar Mantar,” he said, calling on people to continue towards the protest site and turn any location where they were stopped into a place of demonstration.
The appeal came amid extensive security arrangements across Delhi, including barricades, traffic restrictions and preventive detentions. The authorities had taken measures to stop protesters from assembling at Jantar Mantar, where the CJP had planned its demonstration against the chief election commissioner.
The party maintained that the restrictions on transport and the detention of its leaders would not bring the movement to an end.
CJP vows to continue agitation until Gyanesh Kumar resigns
Shinde said the protest was intended to secure the restoration of voting rights for people whose names the party claimed had been wrongly removed from electoral rolls. The CJP has demanded Kumar’s resignation, accusing him of being responsible for what it calls “vote theft”.
“What were we asking? What were the people of this country asking for? Those whose right to vote has been stolen, they got the right back,” Shinde said.
He portrayed the detention of the party’s leaders and the restrictions on the planned gathering as evidence that the movement had made progress. He also argued that the campaign had brought public attention to concerns over the electoral-roll revision process.
“The fear of Modi-Shah shows that we have won this half-war and this is the beginning of a new war,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Shinde invokes earlier Jantar Mantar gathering
Shinde also referred to an earlier gathering at Jantar Mantar, claiming that the coming together of people had challenged the authority of Modi and Shah.
The CJP has sought to mobilise supporters around allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition parties and activists have raised concerns about the possible exclusion of eligible voters, while the Election Commission has defended the exercise as a voter-verification process.
With Dipke, Ranka and Das detained, Shinde has taken charge of the party’s planned demonstration. His message sought to reassure supporters that the agitation would continue despite the restrictions, with the CJP insisting that its campaign would persist until Gyanesh Kumar resigned.