Guwahati: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, DMK chief MK Stalin, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday supported Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, who were remanded to five days of judicial custody after a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

CJP member Ajinkya Shinde, detained alongside them on Tuesday over alleged unauthorised entry into the protest site, was released on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 on Wednesday. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke thanked the Opposition leaders in a post on X.

Gandhi, Kejriwal and Thackeray argued in separate X posts that peacefully waving the Tricolour should not be treated as a crime. Gandhi condemned the activists’ imprisonment and said students, young people, journalists and the INDIA bloc were united in defending their constitutional rights. He also said, “Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it.”

Banerjee accused the BJP of arresting people for displaying the national flag. Stalin questioned the government’s continued detention of protesters and offered legal assistance through the DMK. Thackeray said the agitation would continue until “democracy” was “reclaimed”.

CJP legal head Ratna Singh alleged that the same grounds had been cited for detaining all three activists. She also claimed that the executive magistrate had a history of penalising protesters. Singh wrote on X, “Got to know that SEM has track record of punishing protesters. Coward Sarkar.”

Delhi Police had placed Das, Ranka and Shinde under preventive arrest at Parliament Street police station on Wednesday morning.

Singh said the allegations against the three included trespass, violation of bond conditions and obstruction of a public servant in the discharge of official duties.

She further alleged that they were denied access to their lawyers until late at night and taken to Parliament Street police station in a private van at around 3 am.

Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that Jantar Mantar had been removed from the list of designated protest sites following a Supreme Court order directing authorities to identify alternative venues.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Wednesday that the organisation would remain an independent pressure group despite sharing the INDIA bloc’s opposition to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Speaking to the media in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Dipke was asked whether Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was seeking to project AISA president and student activist Neha Bora as a rival to the CJP.

Dipke accused Kumar of manipulating elections to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi remain in power. He said the CJP’s independent status did not place it in opposition to the INDIA bloc, as both were campaigning against Kumar over the same issue.

Dipke also said the CJP had no plans to register as a political party.