NEW DELHI: Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday warned that protest sites would emerge across the country if demonstrations were banned at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.Dipke said he would begin an agitation from wherever he was detained if police stopped him on his way to Delhi.The CJP founder said he would reach the national capital on Wednesday to join the party’s protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.He was speaking to the media in his native village of Santuk Pimpri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, where he had arrived to attend the asthi visarjan (immersion of ashes as part of a post-death ritual) of his late grandmother, Savitribai Dipke.In a standing order issued on October 11, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar de-notified Jantar Mantar Road as a designated protest site. Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi, Burari Ground in north Delhi and CBD Ground in east Delhi were designated as the three new venues for large demonstrations.On Tuesday morning, the CJP said its leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by police after reaching Jantar Mantar despite heavy barricading and a strong security presence.Dipke told reporters that the agitation would continue until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigned.He said Jantar Mantar was the soul of protests and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of suppressing democratic dissent.“Narendra Modi has a problem with agitation and not the site of the agitation; he has a problem with the idea of people protesting and these are symptoms of a dictator,” Dipke alleged.“If they think the protest will stop if Jantar Mantar is denotified as a protest site, then the entire country will turn Jantar Mantar. Jantar Mantar is the spirit of every agitator,” he stated.Asked where he will protest, Dipke said, “The entire nation will turn Jantar Mantar, and Delhi will turn Jantar Mantar.”He said his team members were carrying the tricolour when they were detained in Delhi. If carrying the national flag was illegal, he said, those in power were “big anti-nationals”.The CJP’s legal team would approach the court over the detention of Ashutosh Ranka and Sourav Das after they unfurled the national flag at Jantar Mantar, he said.Dipke later travelled to a farm in neighbouring Kundkar Pimpri village and stayed in a car for some time. Sitting inside the car, he said he had spoken to his legal team about the matter as he had been unable to speak to them while at home.Earlier, despite his personal grief, Dipke attended the funeral of an elderly Muslim woman from his village after learning about her death and offered support to her bereaved family.In a post on X earlier on Tuesday, Dipke said, “Cockroaches with the Tiranga sneaked into Jantar Mantar early this morning before they were picked up by Delhi Police.”He said Ranka, Das and Shinde, along with other team members, have been detained.“You cannot denotify the resistance,” the CJP founder said, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Dipke also shared a video showing CJP members jumping over a gate to enter Jantar Mantar and raising slogans such as “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. Police personnel were seen rushing towards them.
