As Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka continue to be in jail, founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday made an emotional appeal to protestors and urged them to spend time with their families during the festive season.
Dipke took to X as he thanked protestors for their support during past agitations and said that everyone had gone through a tough time during the protests. He added that the consequences were also faced by their families and requested everyone to spend time with them.
“Hello cockroaches, how are you? I hope all of you are fine. I can see that for the past few days, all of you have been struggling really hard on the streets, in personal life, because of which we are putting up a fight. And I can understand what you are going through,” he said in a video message.
Das and Ranka are lodged in Tihar Jail after they were arrested last week and sent to judicial custody for attempting to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar, which is now a de-notified protest cite. A Delhi magistrate court on Monday extended their judicial custody by two more days as it said the two CJP leaders ‘showed no respect for law’.
"For a few days, spend time with your families. Be there with your families, be there with your loved ones," he said, adding, "Please remember Sourav and Ashu when you are with your families, because they both can't be with their families. So they are our family,” Dipke said in the social media post.
Dipke rejects comparison to France, Bangladesh unrest
The CJP leader also rejected comparisons between the outfit's protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the violent unrest in France, Nepal and Bangladesh. He said Das and Ranka "went to jail happily" and chose "peace over hatred" while following Mahatma Gandhi's path of satyagraha.
“The people who have been doing this and that in France for the past few days, have some shame. Look at what is happening in India. In India, Sourav Das and Ashutosh went to jail with a smile,” he said.
He said the CJP leaders had not resorted to violence despite being jailed and had accepted their imprisonment with a smile.
“They did not do what was happening in France. When they knew they were being put in jail in a wrong way, yet they chose peace. They chose compassion and they went in jail with a smile, not with anger, not with hatred in their heart.”
Dipke said the two had chosen peace and compassion despite believing they were being wrongfully imprisoned. He compared their approach to Gandhi's satyagraha, saying they were enduring imprisonment while upholding non-violence.
“I think this is the biggest strength of our movement. And somewhere, I don't want to compare, this is not a comparison, but what Mahatma Gandhi did, when he was sent to jail, he went to jail quietly because he had a Satyagraha. And Ashutosh and Sourav are also doing the same Satyagraha.”
The CJP and its supporters have been protesting against the SIR of electoral rolls and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Das and Ranka were arrested after CJP activists entered Jantar Mantar on October 13, a day after it was removed from the list of designated protest sites. They were initially remanded to judicial custody for five days, with the custody extended by another two days on October 19.
"I am telling you, when Sourav and Ashutosh will come out, they will again come out of jail with the same smile. They will come out of jail and they will again walk on the path of Mahatma Gandhi, of peace and non-violence," Dipke said.