CJP Protest: Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das Detained at Delhi IGI Airport | Who else was taken into custody? | Today’s news
Delhi witnessed major political drama on Saturday after several leaders, activists and some founding members of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were detained before they could reach Jantar Mantar for the satirical organisation’s planned protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Called by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, the protest is seeking the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
Among those detained were prominent faces of the CJP, including Dipke, co-organizers Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee. According to a post on CJP’s X account, “Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been taken to an unknown location.”
Dipke, Das and Ranka were reportedly detained by the Delhi Police after their flight from Mumbai landed at the Delhi airport. After being detained during the flight, Dipke criticized the police action in a video statement, adding that he was ready to be arrested.
“This is not something even Indira Gandhi did during the Emergency; it is a worse situation and we are all ready for arrest,” he said.
However, the protesters and CJP founders are not the only people who have been detained in the nation’s capital. Delhi Police also cracked down on politicians including MA Baby, Pinarayi Vijayan, MV Govindan Master, A Vijayaraghavan, KK Shailaja, John Brittas MP, KN Balagopal, Brinda Karat and PK Sreemathi. According to the CPI(M), the party leaders were detained as soon as they reached Jantar Mantar.
15. Tushar Gandhi (great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, detained in Bombay)
16. Manish Sisodia (AAP leader detained in Chandigarh)
More than 1,500 detained in the capital; Delhi under security blanket
While the CJP convener and co-organizers were detained as soon as they landed in the capital, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained at his family home in Gurugram’s Sector 56 on Saturday after he allegedly refused requests from Gurugram and Delhi police teams not to travel to Jantar Mantar to attend the protest.
According to reports, over 1,500 people have been detained so far as Delhi has been placed under a security blanket. The Delhi Police has planned a security deployment of about 35,000 police and paramilitary personnel alongside check posts and barricades across the capital. Parts of central Delhi faced mobile internet suspension and access to and from several metro stations was restricted.
Why is CJP protesting?
The protest against Kumar comes after a report in The Indian Express last month suggested an internal rift in the Election Commission. Election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were found to have repeatedly raised concerns within the three-judge panel. Although all three commissioners oversaw the nationwide SIR exercise, Sandhu and Joshi recorded at least 14 formal objections over 10 months, including four in one day. They said decisions were taken and orders issued without their knowledge.
