Chaos erupted at Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and AISA chief Neha Bora’s joint press conference on Thursday, a day ahead of CJP’s ‘Lehra do Tiranga ’ protest march. People at the presser were heard saying: “Band karo...dafa ho jaao” (Stop it; get lost) before Bora urged the management to escort the disruptors out. The CJP has announced a “Lehra do Tiranga” march at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday. Dipke urged citizens to join the demonstration, saying waving the national flag is a democratic right. He also appealed to political parties to join.
Addressing a press conference along with All India Students’ Association national president Neha Bora, Students’ Federation of India leader Aishe Ghosh, All India Students’ Federation national president Viraaj Devang and actor Prakash Raj among others, Dipke alleged that students and young people had been protesting in Delhi for the past 10-15 days and were being dragged away by authorities.
On the crackdown on protesters, Dipke said, “Former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan, MPs, leaders of the opposition, all were detained. For the first time in the history of India, the Railways was shut, and metros were shut for Gyanesh,” he said, questioning why the Government was protecting the chief election commissioner. Describing the slogan of ‘One Nation, One Election’ as a cover for a different political objective, he said, “One Nation, One Election’ was a slogan. The real intention is One Nation, One Party, One Leader.”
He accused the Government of trying to influence electoral outcomes through alleged voter deletions and asked whether striking off the names of over 13 crore voters was a “setting”. Questioning the deletions against the backdrop of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said, “The margin of victory in 2024 was just 2 per cent. Over 13 crore voters deleted.” “Where 2 per cent is deciding the election, you are deleting 13 crore votes. What is this if not a setting,” he asked.
“(Narendra) Modi cannot be bigger than (Mahatma) Gandhi and (Jawaharlal) Nehru,” he added. Bora alleged that the police had targeted journalists covering the protests, detaining them despite their press credentials and snatching their cameras. She also referred to an alleged sexual harassment incident involving a journalist, in which an FIR was registered. She accused the police of using force against people raising concerns over electoral rights. “Police, instead of maintaining law and order, crack down on the public. This is a classic example of what we have seen,” she said.