Guwahati: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday alleged that police in Maharashtra were issuing notices to party activists and pressuring them not to attend the organisation’s planned agitation in New Delhi on October 10.
Addressing a press conference in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dipke claimed that Chandrapur police had served notices to CJP activists, asking them not to participate in the proposed protest at Jantar Mantar and questioning them about the source of funds for their travel expenses.
The CJP has planned the October 10 agitation to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“I have said multiple times that the Maharashtra Police is the best police force in the country, and the Delhi Police should learn from them. But it is heartbreaking that the Chandrapur police served notices to CJP workers, telling them not to participate in the agitation at Jantar Mantar,” Dipke said.
He also questioned how police could anticipate that the proposed agitation would turn violent.
Dipke further claimed that police had directed CJP activists against making social media posts that could allegedly lead to violence.
“We speak about (Mahatma) Gandhi and B R Ambedkar. Do they think it is violent?” he asked.
Turning his criticism towards the BJP-led government, Dipke said the slogan of “One Nation, One Election” was merely a stated formulation and claimed that the actual intention was “one nation, one political party”.
The CJP’s planned protest comes amid a wider opposition campaign over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and reports of differences within the three-member Election Commission.
The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the poll panel and maintained that decisions concerning the SIR exercise were taken unanimously.