The Delhi Tiranga march called by the Cockroach Janta Party and the All India Students’ Association faced police restrictions on Friday, with a team visiting CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s residence in Karol Bagh to serve him a notice against holding the event and multiple layers of barricades installed around Connaught Place.
The march was scheduled to begin at 5 pm from Central Park in Connaught Place. Delhi Police were also monitoring the movements of CJP and AISA members who had called the march, according to a report by The Indian Express.
A live video posted on the CJP’s Instagram page showed Dipke questioning a police officer about the notice. “Humne to bola nahi protest karenge… hum toh Tiranga lehrayenge. Woh be allowed nahi hai?” he said, asking whether waving the Tricolour was also not allowed.
The police visit came hours before the planned march. Dipke and CJP legal head Ratna Singh had alleged on Thursday evening that police and intelligence officials had been deployed around the residence where Dipke was staying on Rani Jhansi Road. The house belongs to Anish Gawande, a spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Gawande said the deployment around his house had continued for several days and was particularly visible before the march. He questioned whether such a force could instead be used to protect women and reduce crime in the national capital.
A senior Delhi Police officer, however, said the police were keeping watch on the situation and denied that any specific arrangement had been made outside the house of a resident. The officer did not provide further details about the notice served on Dipke or the restrictions governing the march.
At a media briefing, Dipke alleged that authorities had brought in additional forces and continued to deploy personnel around members of the group. He said the organisers had announced a protest for October 10 and questioned the security response to the proposed event. These claims were made by Dipke and were not independently confirmed in the report.
Dipke and Singh said the march would be peaceful and that the organisers intended to unfurl the national flag at Connaught Place. Dipke described this as a fundamental right and said the organisers followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar.
The police arrangements at Connaught Place included multiple layers of barricades intended to prevent protesters from entering the premises. The measures were in place around Central Park and the inner circle, areas that typically carry heavy pedestrian, commercial and transport activity in central Delhi.
The immediate effect of the arrangements on access to Connaught Place, nearby businesses and commuters was not specified in the report. The police response and the organisers’ statements were reported ahead of the scheduled 5 pm march, leaving the event’s eventual size, route and outcome unconfirmed at the time of publication.
