Ajinkya Shinde, the newly appointed organiser of the Cockroach Janta Party, has announced he will head a rally at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar this Saturday, following the detention of the party’s founders at Delhi airport.
On the morning of Thursday, Abhijeet Dipke, Saurabh Das and Ashutosh Ranka were taken by Delhi Police from the aircraft that had just landed, a move the CJP calls a deliberate attempt to silence dissent.
Shinde’s video message, posted to the party’s social media, claims the Modi‑led government is “scared” of large gatherings and says trains, metro and bus services were halted to impede people from reaching the protest site.
The CJP’s previous mobilisation at Jantar Mantar in 2023 challenged the “ego” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and the new rally is framed as a demand for the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
“We are only asking for our rights…the right to vote, which was stolen,” Shinde said, urging supporters to assemble wherever the police try to block them. The protest will go ahead on Saturday unless the three detained leaders are released, at which point the party says it will reassess its demands.