A Chhattisgarh policeman who has led many protests of colleagues' families in support of various demands has floated a political party and plans to contest in all 90 constituencies in the assembly election.
Constable Ujjawal Diwan in Dhamtari district said on Sunday that suspended, expelled and retired policemen have joined the outfit and several other policemen would join after quitting their jobs.
After facing challenges in registering a new political party, Diwan and his associates decided to take over ‘Azad Janata Party’, an already registered outfit.
Diwan, the state president of AJP, said he has been fighting for the welfare of policemen and their families since 2018.
“Several cases were lodged against me. I even had to go to jail. Now I don’t have faith in any political party. Therefore, we decided to establish our own party and contest polls. Our aim is to ensure justice to every victimized person in the state,” he said.
The constable said he resigned in 2021 but it had not been accepted yet.
He can contest the election only after his resignation is accepted, he said.
Sanjeev Mishra, a suspended police constable who has been appointed the spokesperson of the party, was suspended last year and he submitted his resignation.
Diwan said they will use crowd-funding to raise resources.
He claims to have the support of over 80,000 families of policemen and 4.5 lakh contractual employees working in state government departments.
The families of policemen from the lower ranks in the state have staged several protests in the last five years seeking higher salaries, weekly off, government quarters for all and response allowance.