CJP, AISA Condemn Police Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters Carrying Tiranga at Jantar-Mantar

New Delhi- The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA) held a joint press conference at the Press Club of India on Thursday, condemning the police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and raising concerns over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The press conference was addressed by CJP Founder and National Convenor Abhijeet Dipke, AISA President Neha Bora, Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan, actor-activist Prakash Raj, and Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union President Sheikh Salauddin.

CJP questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s backing of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar amid mounting public anger over SIR and restrictions on protests in the national capital.

“Why is the Prime Minister shutting down Delhi to protect one man? Delhi has been turned into an India-Pakistan border, with railway and Metro services suspended after our October 10 protest call. What does Gyanesh Kumar give Modi in return for this protection?” said Abhijeet Dipke, Founder and National Convenor of CJP.

CJP condemned the police action against students, young people and opposition leaders protesting alleged electoral irregularities. The party said its leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were arrested and sent to Tihar Jail after entering Jantar Mantar carrying the national flag.

“Unfurling the Tiranga is not a crime. The BJP never raised the Tiranga during the freedom struggle or after Independence, which is why they neither understand nor respect it. Raising the national flag is being treated as violence and a violation of law, the way General Dyer would have. If the government wants to detain this many citizens, opposition leaders and students, let it declare an emergency outright,” Dipke said.

He added that the proposed “One Nation, One Election” initiative risked becoming “One Nation, One Party”, arguing that defending the right to vote was fundamental to protecting citizens’ constitutional rights.

CJP reiterated three key demands: the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged SIR irregularities; the release of Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and all detained peaceful protesters; and an end to police brutality, alongside the restoration of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site.

AISA President Neha Bora said the movement was expanding to major cities, including Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, and asserted that police action and intimidation would not deter citizens from demanding electoral accountability.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal criticised what he described as the subversion of constitutional institutions, warning that arbitrary revisions and mass deletions of voters could undermine electoral integrity and democracy.

Actor-activist Prakash Raj alleged that Form 7 was being used to systematically erase targeted communities, particularly Muslim voters, from electoral rolls. He highlighted the plight of affected citizens across 23 districts of Karnataka who could not travel to Delhi to make their voices heard.

Sheikh Salauddin, President of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union, said his own name had been deleted from the electoral roll despite his active voter status.

Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan condemned the police response to peaceful demonstrators, citing videos of alleged lathi-charges and arbitrary detentions. He also challenged the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site, calling it an attempt to curtail the constitutional right to public dissent.

The party has called on students, workers, farmers, traders, opposition parties and citizens to join “Lehra Do Tiranga” at Central Park, Connaught Place, New Delhi, on Friday, 16 October 2026, to peacefully hoist the national flag and exercise their democratic right to dissent.