New Delhi, October 15: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of waging a “war against their own countrymen” to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Speaking at a press conference a day after two of his colleagues were sent to Tihar Jail, Dipke pointed to protesters being dragged off the streets and Opposition leaders being detained. They included, he noted, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. He alleged that the government had gone to extraordinary lengths, including shutting railway services around the October 10 protest, and asked what all of it was for. “For one, Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.

He also dared the government to go further. “If you want to detain students and the Opposition, then officially declare Emergency,” Dipke said. These are his allegations. The government has not responded to this specific charge.

Two CJP activists in jail

The immediate trigger was the arrest of CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. Delhi Police say they were taken into custody, along with CJP member Ajinkya Shinde, after crossing barricades and entering Jantar Mantar, where they raised slogans demanding Kumar’s resignation. Police have accused them of trespassing. Das and Ranka were later sent to five days of judicial custody.

Dipke gave a very different account. He said that he, Das, Ranka and other volunteers had gone towards Jantar Mantar only to wave the national flag and shout “Vande Mataram”, and that two of his colleagues had been jailed for it. AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj and other Opposition leaders have also criticised the action.

A Tricolour rally on Friday

Dipke has responded by calling a demonstration, titled “Lehra do Tiranga”, at Central Park in Connaught Place at 5 pm on Friday, October 16. He urged anyone who loves the national flag to turn up and hoist it. He also said the CJP’s agitation shares the Opposition’s cause but that the group will remain an independent pressure group.

How we got here

The CJP began on May 16 as an online satire of the political establishment, and has grown into a youth-led protest movement. Its October 10 demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanded Kumar’s resignation over alleged flaws in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

That day, Delhi saw mass detentions. Reports say nearly 5,000 protesters were detained across the capital. Former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar were among those held, along with CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby and a number of MPs. The Opposition parties called the action “brutal repression”. Dipke was also among those detained.

The Supreme Court steps in

The dispute has now moved to the courts. On Thursday, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Election Commission and the CEC on a petition by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and 12 other INDIA bloc leaders. They allege large-scale voter deletions during the SIR and seek an independent audit and a pause on the exercise.

The court tagged the petition with pending challenges to the SIR. The Chief Justice said that issuing notice does not mean the court is condemning anything. He also said the court would ask one petitioner to explain his conduct at the next hearing, reportedly over the Opposition’s October 12 march to the Supreme Court, and said nobody can browbeat the judiciary. The bench is also due to consider separate petitions on the closure of Metro stations and train disruptions before the October 10 protest.

What to watch

Three things stand out. How many people turn up on Friday, and whether the police allow the rally to go ahead. Whether Das and Ranka are granted bail when their custody ends. And how the Election Commission answers the Supreme Court’s notice. Earlier this week, Union Minister Piyush Goyal defended the present system of appointing election commissioners and accused the Congress of compromising the poll body in the past, so the political battle is set to continue.

© Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Vygr Media.