NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Saturday accused Delhi Police of forcibly detaining its activists and dragging protesters attempting to reach Jantar Mantar for a demonstration demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.More than 7,000 people were detained across the national capital, while six police personnel were injured after stones were allegedly hurled at two locations. Police are also set to register an FIR in connection with the alleged assault on personnel.In a post accompanying a video purportedly showing police detaining activists and taking them away, CJP said: “CJP’S TEAM FORCEFULLY DETAINED!”“Delhi Police is pushing, dragging and detaining people for peacefully protesting!” the party wrote, adding, “Is peacefully raising your voice a crime now?”CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, co-convener Saurav Das and leader Ashutosh Ranka were detained aboard their flight after it landed at Delhi airport, according to the party. Legal affairs head Ratna Singh was also reportedly detained earlier outside her residence in New Delhi.A video from the aircraft showed Dipke challenging the officers. “I have come to be arrested, arrest me … I am not afraid of you guys,” he said. An officer responded, “No, this is not an arrest. Please cooperate.”Delhi Police had denied permission for the proposed demonstration, with reports citing the late submission of the request as the reason. The authorities imposed extensive security restrictions, with barricades and personnel deployed to prevent protesters from reaching the designated venue.The protest was called over alleged electoral-roll irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with demonstrators demanding Kumar’s resignation. Several INDIA bloc leaders and activists were also detained, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.In a post on X, Kejriwal said, “This is worse than the Emergency. It’s official.. we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear. PM Modi clearly knows he only won the election through vote chori and now he is hell-bent on protecting his fraud by completely crushing democracy. Gyanesh must go, but so must Modi..”Banerjee, detained with Trinamool Congress leaders after staging a sit-in, also echoed: “This has gone beyond an Emergency; it has become a Super Emergency.”Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi expressed solidarity with the protesters and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to detain all those participating. “Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all,” Gandhi said.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, criticised the protest. Party leader Sambit Patra described it as a “flop show” and called the detentions a victory of democracy over “mob rule”.A police officer said six personnel were injured, with stones allegedly thrown at security personnel at two locations. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals, and the circumstances surrounding their injuries were being ascertained.