Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the full force of the state machinery to protect "one man", chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Addressing a media conference here with Left student unions a day ahead of his planned Tiranga March to Connaught Place, Dipke questioned the government for bringing Lutyens' Delhi to a "standstill by restricting Metro and train services" to "save one man".
“You have even called unfurling the Tricolour a violation of the law. For whom? For Gyanesh Kumar?” Dipke said.
CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were arrested for entering the Jantar Mantar area on Tuesday morning — a day after the venue had been denotified as a designated protest site — with the national flag.
Dipke underlined that waving the Tiranga was held to be a crime in the country during British rule.
“When did holding the Tiranga become a crime?” Dipke asked. “What is Gyanesh Kumar giving Narendra Modi?”
Dipke continued: "You have brought Delhi to a standstill, shut down the railways, shut down the Metro and made Delhi resemble... the India-Pakistan border.
“You have called in all the forces to Delhi. Students have been dragged, the Opposition has been dragged, and former chief ministers have been dragged through the streets. All this for one Gyanesh Kumar….
“Why is Gyanesh Kumar so important to Narendra Modi? Why should we not believe that Gyanesh Kumar is helping Narendra Modi win elections? If he is not helping him win elections, why is Narendra Modi providing him with so much protection?”
Dipke underlined that the overall victory margin in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was “just 2 per cent” of the votes, contrasting this with the deletion of over 13 crore voters during the SIR, which he said was around 14 per cent of the electorate.
“Where 2 per cent is deciding the election, you are deleting 13 crore votes. What is this if not a 'setting'?” he asked, using a local colloquialism for rigging.
Dipke asked all political parties, civil society organisations and citizens to join the “Lehra Do Tiranga” march called by the CJP on Friday.
In a late-night media conference, Dipke said the CJP would wave the Tiranga at Connaught Place even if it means being arrested. He called the media conference after seeing what he believed were plainclothes cops around his house.
In the media conference earlier in the day, Dipke was accompanied by AISA president Neha Bora. Apart from the AISA, other Left student bodies such as the SFI and the AISF too have decided to join the CJP's Tiranga campaign on Friday.
Neha was interrupted in her opening remarks by a couple of reporters who sought to provoke and heckle her. They were escorted out of the Press Club of India, following which the crowded media conference proceeded as scheduled.
Neha flagged the police’s targeting of journalists covering the protests, referring in particular to a woman who was facing a counter-FIR against her under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after she alleged sexual harassment by a policeman.
"The police, instead of maintaining law and order, are cracking down on the public. This is a classic example of what we have seen," she said.
"This movement is alive in the homes of ordinary, poor people across India, in different neighbourhoods and on the streets. It is alive at Freedom Park in Raghavendra Nagar, at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, and at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. This movement is alive,” Neha said.
She emphasised that the foundation of democracy was universal adult franchise and that the right to vote had been compromised in India.
“When you drag ordinary citizens through the streets of Delhi, you are not merely dragging away the people who have gathered to protest. You are dragging onto the streets the 13 crore people whose names you have struck off the electoral rolls."
Neha said the government would not be able to silence the movement by putting its leaders in judicial custody and through repeated detentions. "This movement will continue, and now it is only going to grow bigger," she said.