E-Paper
CJP thanks Delhi Police for ‘all possible cooperation’ during ‘Cockroach’ protest, cops's cautionary message
The Cockroach Janta Party organised a protest led by its founder Abhijeet Dipke at the Jantar Mantar demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's removal.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which organised a protest at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's removal, thanked Delhi Police for extending their support to the peaceful agitation.
CJP's newly named spokesperson Saurav Das took to X to post a ‘thank you’ message for the police for extending support to the democratic protest and for detaining "anti-social elements."
The political outfit, that emerged from an online campaign last month, organised a protest led by its founder Abhijeet Dipke at the Jantar Mantar demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's removal. The outfit warned that the agitation would expand across the country if he is not sacked or does not resign voluntarily.
In a statement earlier, it said “thousands of young people from across the country gathered at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful demonstration demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.”
Thanking the Delhi Police for their cooperation, the CJP said that the outfit's priority was a peaceful demonstration, adding that the agitation remained peaceful throughout.
"This protest is a result of high public frustration and a lack of outlet to register it. Before today’s demonstration, 8 lakh people had already signed petitions demanding the Minister’s resignation. Yet there has been no response from the government," it added.
The CJP began as an online campaign as a result of an outrage against Chief Justice of India Surya Kant's remarks. Within few weeks, the outfit garnered over 22 million followers on Instagram.
The group has now warned of bigger protests if no action is taken within seven days.
"This is the beginning of a movement. If no action is taken within seven days, this movement will spread across the country," the statement read.
Delhi Police warns against fake news
The Delhi Police, meanwhile, called untrue reports claiming that an FIR was registered against the protesters at Jantar Mantar.
"Certain social media posts and news reports are claiming that Delhi Police has registered an FIR against the protesters at Jantar Mantar. It is clarified that no such FIR has been registered," a social post of Delhi Police read, warning people against circulating unverified information.
Tell them we are not scared: Abhijeet Dipke
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, while addressing a press conference at Jantar Mantar, warned of bigger protests against the government in case the demands are unmet, saying, "Tell them, we are not scared."
Dipke, who called for the protest, arrived in Delhi from the United States on Saturday morning. He headed to Jantar Mantar after receiving permission from the Delhi Police.
"This is not just the fear of my mother, this is the fear of the parents of any youngster who speaks on politics.... How long will we live in fear? Tell them, we are not scared," he said.
"My friends, this is a long struggle. It has been a month since we started demanding Pradhan's resignation on social media, but these individuals are so shameless that instead of taking action, they have been focussed on other distractions, like hacking our accounts and getting our posts deleted. You may be able to delete our posts, but you cannot erase us from this space," he added.
