Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, who arrived in Delhi on Wednesday, has called for a gathering with the Tricolour at Central Park on 16 October, asserting that unfurling the national flag is not a crime and saying he is prepared to go to jail.
His announcement came hours after CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody over allegations that they entered Jantar Mantar unlawfully, reports Hindustan Times.
Dipke compared their arrests to the treatment of freedom fighters under British rule.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) told the Supreme Court that metro services in the national capital had never been completely suspended. The submission came in response to a petition alleging contempt of court orders concerning restrictions on transport services.
Two CJP leaders sent to judicial custody
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were remanded to five-day judicial custody earlier on Wednesday, while Ajinkya Shinde, the party’s national organisation in-charge, was released on a personal bond, CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh said.
Delhi Police had said earlier that the three party leaders were placed under preventive arrest. They were detained after entering Jantar Mantar early on Tuesday, a day after the site was denotified as a protest venue.
Advocate Abhisht Hela, representing the CJP, said police told the executive magistrate that Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka had called on people to gather at Jantar Mantar, amounting to criminal trespass.
Police also cited a bond the two had signed before an executive magistrate at Delhi Cantonment Police Station on Sunday, in which they had pledged not to disturb public peace. Authorities alleged that they had violated the undertaking.
According to Hela, police argued that there was a presumption the two could commit an offence if released.
The lawyer disputed the allegations, maintaining that Saurav and Ashutosh had neither violated their earlier bond nor issued a call for people to gather at the site.
Rahul Gandhi backs unified protest
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hosted leaders of the INDIA bloc, civil society representatives and activists at his residence for tea on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Gandhi said the opposition would pursue a unified campaign focused on restoring democracy.
“We are all standing here together as one. As I said yesterday, there are no parallel protests, there is one singular protest and the protest has one mission — ‘restoration of democracy in India,’” he said.
He argued that Jantar Mantar had served as a venue for democratic expression and criticised the government’s decision to withdraw its status as a protest site.
“The one method of expression of democracy was Jantar Mantar, and now, the government has decided that Jantar Mantar can no longer be used to express democratic feelings. Well, we are going to challenge that idea,” he said, according to PTI.
Shah predicts NDA victory in 2029
Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticised the opposition, predicting another defeat for the Congress in the 2029 general election.
He urged Gandhi and his associates to prepare for what he described as a decisive loss, claiming that the National Democratic Alliance would secure a strong majority.
Shah also cited the Congress’s electoral record in several states and called on Gandhi to reflect on the party’s repeated defeats.
Referring to Tripura, West Bengal and Gujarat, he questioned whether the opposition’s electoral setbacks could be attributed to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, noting that the exercise began after the 2024 general election.
Congress MP KC Venugopal hit back at Shah in a post on X, accusing him of celebrating an election victory while, in the opposition’s view, the electoral system was being undermined.
Venugopal also said Shah’s remarks about the 2029 election suggested that he believed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s position was unstable.
