CJP co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka attempted to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar, alongside outfit in-charge Ajinkya Shinde and several other protesters- and were detained by police. Following the Home Ministry’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar has been de-notified as a protest site by the Government of India.
The CJP leadership had reacted sharply to the Delhi Police notification on Monday, which declared that Jantar Mantar would no longer be the designated protest zone in Delhi. In what the outfit describes as act of “resistance,” Ranka and Das were seen sneaking into the Jantar Mantar area to stage a protest- and were promptly detained by authorities. The CJP took to social media over the incident in a series of posts.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke claimed that Ranka, Das, Shinde and other team members entered Jantar Mantar early on Monday morning, carrying the national flag, before being detained by the Delhi Police. Calling the group “cockroaches with the Tiranga”, Dipke said the resistance could not be “denotified.”
Saurav Das also claimed that the group had entered Jantar Mantar, declaring that the protest site had been “reclaimed” before they were detained. Addressing young people, Das called the action a message of resistance and asserted that the movement could succeed.
Even after the official de-notification of Jantar Mantar, the CJP has continued its call for protests in the area. Reacting to the de-notification on Monday, Dipke and Das claimed, “the government will soon denotify democracy also.”
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In a sharp reaction, CJP founder Dipke alleged that the Modi government’s decision to denotify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site was an attempt to curb dissent. He warned that the move could eventually threaten democracy itself, arguing that the government’s problem was not the protest venue but “the very idea of people protesting”.
In another post, Dipke said Jantar Mantar had already been turned into a “war zone” and claimed that removing its designated protest-site status would not stop the agitation. Declaring that the movement would spread beyond the capital, he said, “Ab poora desh Jantar Mantar banega!”
Das termed the decision to denotify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site “unacceptable” and questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “scared of Jantar Mantar”. He asserted that the site belonged to the people of India and questioned whether the Ministry of Home Affairs had consulted citizens, stakeholders or organisations before taking the decision.
