New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Left-backed students’ organisations AISA, SFI and AISF, and AAP’s student outfit ASAP, Wednesday announced a joint march to Jantar Mantar on Oct 10, demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar who, they said, should face criminal proceedings for the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
This is the first time in recent months that several student and youth outfits have announced that they will march for a national issue.
The outfits gave a “Dilli Chalo” call, asking people from across the country to assemble in the capital. “The fight all of us are fighting is not divided along party lines, not divided by student organisations’ different banners,” Bora said. “The fight has only one name — the people of India versus BJP and those who want to destroy our democracy,” she said. The Oct 10 protest would be “marked in history” as the moment when, with democratic rights under attack, people “broke political party barriers” and reached Jantar Mantar to demand accountability from the Election Commission , Bora said. Das appealed to people who may travel to the protest from other states to “come with bags packed”. Be prepared to stay here for long,” he said. He said the organisers had intimated Delhi Police about the march as organising to “protest is a fundamental right”. Das said govt should call a delegation of youths to hear their concerns if it believes that there was wrongdoing in the voter-roll revision.
Their announcement came at a news conference at the Press Club of India by CJP’s Saurav Das and Ratna Singh, SFI’s Adarsh Saji, AISA’s Neha Bora, AISF’s Viraaj Devang, ASAP’s Eeshna Gupta and Youth for Swaraj’s Sandeep Yadav. “It is not going to be a one-day fight. It will be a long fight. Police have not given permission yet.