Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday announced that the outfit has no plans to organise any protests until Diwali. He also urged supporters to spend the ongoing festive season with their loved ones.
Dipke said it was time for CJP supporters, whom he refers to as "cockroaches", to take a break from protests and spend a few days with their families.
He acknowledged that their families must be worried following the events of the past few days, referring to the clampdown in Delhi in the wake of calls by the CJP and opposition parties for protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
"Right now, I just want you all—all my cockroaches—to request that for a few days, you spend time with your families. Festivals are coming, and after what has happened in the past few days, your families must be very worried," he said in a video message.
The CJP founder added, "So, for a few days, spend time with your families. Be there with your families, be there with your loved ones."
He added that his own parents, as well as those of fellow CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were concerned.
Dipke also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the "entire state machinery" to keep the CJP functionaries in jail.
"Even after five days, the same Sourav Das, who himself felt that he would not be able to stay in jail even for a day, he smiles on the fifth day and comes to the court. And when he finds out that judicial custody has been extended, even after that, he is not afraid. This is strength," the CJP founder said.
"Ashutosh, who has been in jail for five days, after coming to court, has no fear on his face. This is strength," he said further.
On Monday, October 19, Ranka and Das were remanded in judicial custody for two more days after they were produced before a newly-appointed special executive magistrate at the Mandir Marg police station in Delhi.
The duo were initially sent to judicial custody for five days on October 13 after they allegedly climbed over a locked gate to enter Jantar Mantar, which had been de-notified as a designated protest site the day before.
Along with other CJP activists, they displayed the national flag and raised slogans against Kumar, before being detained.
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(With inputs from PTI)