New Delhi [India], October 15 : Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday alleged that students and youth in Delhi have been protesting on the streets for the past 10-15 days and are being dragged away, while Opposition leaders who joined them were also detained.
Addressing a press conference, Dipke said, “For the past 10-15 days, students’ organisations and the youth of Delhi have been out on the streets, being dragged away. When the Opposition joined them, they were detained too, including the Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Ministers like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan. And all this for whom? For one man, Gyanesh Kumar.”
He further alleged that Railways services were shut down following the October 10 call, claiming it was possibly the first time in the country’s history.
“For whom? Gyanesh Kumar. That wasn’t enough, so they shut the Metro and closed stations across Delhi. For whom? Gyanesh Kumar. Still not satisfied, they brought in forces from Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Expressing solidarity with the media, AISA activist Neha Bora on Thursday slammed the authorities over the detention of journalists and alleged harassment.
Addressing a press conference, Bora said, "We know that you keep saying that you have press cards in your hands, that this is our press card, and by beating and dragging the journalists of Caravan's Quint, they were detained for hours, despite knowing that they had press cards."
She further alleged, "We saw how cameras were snatched from journalists and they were told that they would not get the camera if they cover this. And yesterday, shockingly we see that a journalist who is covering news and is being sexually harassed by Vivek Bhagat when she goes to file an FIR, then yesterday it turns out that a counter FIR is registered against her."
"And this that happened in this country is that when common people reach the police to appeal for justice, that police, instead of maintaining law and order, giving support to a particular political party, cracks down on the public itself. This is a classic example of what we have been seeing in this country for so long," she added.
The CJP and other organisations have given a call for people to wave the national flag at the Central Park in Delhi's connaught place on Saturday. With the AAP also supporting that call, this is the next step in their agitation against the CEC.