Abhijeet Dipke
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Wednesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “officially declare an emergency” after two of his colleagues, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were remanded to five days of judicial custody for allegedly entering Jantar Mantar without authorisation and unfurling the tricolour.
In a subsequent post, Dipke said both activists were fully aware of the risks before heading to Jantar Mantar, where protests were no longer allowed after Centre denotified the site as a designated protest venue. “Saurav and Ashu knew they could be thrown behind bars, yet they went to Jantar Mantar and proudly unfurled the tricolour,” he said in the post. Describing their actions as an act of defiance, Dipke said they had demonstrated that citizens must refuse to bow before intimidation. “They’ve shown the entire country that the only way to stand up to a bully like Modi is to never bow down, no matter the consequences,” he wrote.
Dipke described the move as an effort to stifle dissent. The remarks came amid reports of differences between CJP and Congress, although leaders of INDIA bloc, including leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, publicly backed Dipke.