Delhi protest restrictions ahead of a planned demonstration at Jantar Mantar have drawn criticism from Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, who alleged that the cancellation of trains and the barricading of parts of the capital were intended to prevent citizens from joining the protest.
Dipke, speaking at a Loksamvad event organised by Loksatta in Mumbai on Friday, said the measures amounted to a curb on citizen rights. He compared the situation with the Emergency, saying that even then trains had continued to run on time. His remarks were made a day before the CJP’s planned protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the withdrawal of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The CJP claims that more than 13 crore names were deleted from draft electoral rolls during the revision. The party has said the protest will go ahead despite what it describes as police obstacles. Dipke is expected to travel to Delhi on Saturday morning.
According to the Indian Express report, Dipke questioned whether restricting roads, railways and Metro services would itself inconvenience the public, after permission for a CJP protest at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on October 2 was denied on the stated ground that it could inconvenience citizens. He accused the government of adopting a contradictory approach to public disruption.
Dipke also alleged that Delhi Police, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces had been deployed in connection with the planned demonstration. The report does not independently establish the scale or operational details of the deployment, nor does it include a response from the Central government, Delhi Police or transport authorities to the allegations about restrictions.
The CJP founder said that curbs on movement would increase public anger rather than address the reasons behind the protest. He compared the planned mobilisation with the party’s earlier agitation over the NEET-UG paper leak, which he said ended after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on July 25. Dipke argued that resignations were necessary to establish accountability, while also stating that the CJP’s earlier protest had helped citizens speak more openly about education, schools and roads.
The party says its current protest could be larger because it relates to the deletion of more than 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls, compared with the 20 lakh students Dipke said were affected by the NEET controversy. Those figures and the party’s assessment were presented in the report as Dipke’s claims.
CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das and national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka separately told The Indian Express that party workers would proceed even if the leadership was detained or arrested. Das said the organisation had anticipated arrest from the beginning and expected supporters to reach Jantar Mantar. Ranka said the party would continue marching towards the protest site after release, while asking how long Delhi could be kept under what he described as a cantonment-like security arrangement.
The party said it had not contacted Rahul Gandhi or any other politician and described the mobilisation as an open call to citizens. Its immediate next step is the planned protest at Jantar Mantar, subject to the restrictions and security arrangements in place in Delhi.
