Abhijeet Dipke's Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is set for its much-anticipated 'Jail Bharo Andolan' against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Shivaji Park in Maharashtra's Mumbai on Friday.
While the immediate trigger for the protest is a news investigation that claimed an internal rift within the Election Commission, the decision to launch the agitation in Mumbai and not Delhi - where its earlier Jantar Mantar agitation against examination irregularities led to the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan - is deliberate. Track live updates from CJP protest here
The agitation was slated to start at 4 pm on Friday near Gate No 6 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Mumbai, Abhijeet Dipke said on Thursday, adding that the stir will subsequently be taken to different parts of the country – such as Goa and Kolkata -- before culminating in a sit-in at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. “It will continue till Kumar resigns,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday, CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke explained the reasoning behind the choice.
"In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won only nine seats out of 48 seats. In the Assembly elections held six months later, the scenario changed altogether. How did this change happen?" he said, according to an Indian Express report.
"It is in this context that we have chosen to start the agitation from Mumbai," Dipke said.
{{/usCountry}}"It is in this context that we have chosen to start the agitation from Mumbai," Dipke said.
{{/usCountry}}He also explained the choice in Marathi, saying, "Delhi che hi takth rakhto Maharashtra maza [Even the Delhi throne is guarded by Maharashtra]," the report quoted him as saying.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won nine of the 28 seats it contested in Maharashtra. Along with its alliance partners Shiv Sena (Seven) and Nationalist Congress Party NCP (One), the Mahayuti won 17 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising Congress (13), Shiv Sena (UBT) (Nine) and NCP (8), won a combined 30 seats. One seat was won by an independent candidate.
Six months later, the picture changed dramatically in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats. With alliance partners Shiv Sena (57) and NCP (41), the Mahayuti's tally rose to 230 of the 288 seats in the state Legislative Assembly.
The Opposition MVA, comprising Congress (16), Shiv Sena (UBT) (20) and NCP (SP) (10), managed to win 46 seats.
Soon after the Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on the Election Commission over alleged 'vote chori' (vote theft). He specifically cited constituencies in Maharashtra's Vidarbha, while alleging irregularities in the conduct of the elections.
Why protest on Oct 2?
The police denied permission for the agitation at the historic Shivaji Park. However, Dipke invoked the British rule in explaining his reason to go ahead with the protest.
"We are fighting against those in power…We all remember Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against the Britishers. Did the British ever permit him to agitate?" he reportedly said.
"Mumbai has a historic past and a strong connection with Mahatma Gandhi. It was here in Mumbai (then Bombay) that Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India movement on August 9, 1942, at Gawalia Tank, now called August Kranti Maidan," he added.
The CJP also announced that its protest would be held in other major cities, including West Bengal's Kolkata, Maharashtra's Goa, Karnaraka's Bengaluru and Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Mumbai police has denied permission for the proposed protest, citing restrictions on the use of the ground, the absence of the required civic permission and concerns over noise and traffic.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that if the protest went ahead, protesters would be jailed for three days before getting bail, HT reported earlier. Dipke reacted by saying, “Mee punha yein [I will be back],” mocking the line made famous by Fadnavis during a pre-poll speech ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections.