Abhijeet Dipke heads to Maharashtra village after grandmother’s death, vows CJP ‘won’t back down’

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke left Delhi for his village in Maharashtra on Saturday following the death of his grandmother, hours after being released from detention. He said the group would continue its campaign demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar despite the authorities preventing its planned protest.

Dipke said CJP co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka would address a press conference in Delhi following his departure. In a post on X, he vowed that the group would not be intimidated by the action against its leaders.

“Heading back to my village to be with my family during this moment of grief. Saurav and Ashu will address a press conference shortly in Delhi. The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated. October 10 will go down as the beginning of the end of this dictatorship,” he wrote.

CJP co-convenors released after detention

Das and Ranka were released on Sunday after being produced before an executive magistrate. The two had been detained at Delhi airport on Saturday alongside Dipke, ahead of the CJP’s planned demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

Ratna Singh, the party’s head of legal affairs, said the three leaders had been released on the condition that they would not “breach peace” for a year.

In his first social media post after his release, Dipke launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, writing on X: “Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India. Never has this country seen a bigger coward and bully.”

More than 7,000 protesters detained in Delhi

The CJP leaders’ detention came amid a large-scale security operation across the national capital on Saturday. More than 7,000 protesters were detained at different locations, preventing them from reaching Jantar Mantar for the planned demonstration demanding Kumar’s resignation.

The protest was part of the wider agitation over concerns surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and calls for accountability from the Election Commission.

Despite the disruption and the detention of its leading members, the CJP has vowed to continue its campaign.