Cockroach Janta Party leaders scale gate at Jantar Mantar, hoist tricolour, detained by police

The agitation by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is spreading from Delhi to the rest of the country, adding to the Union government's difficulties. The CJP held a protest in Delhi on October 10. The Centre subsequently announced that Jantar Mantar would no longer be permitted as a protest site.

Despite the ban, CJP leaders on Tuesday once again slipped past the police, reached Jantar Mantar and raised slogans against Gyanesh Kumar. Party spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with a few associates, evaded police watch and crossed the gate and barricades to get inside. The leaders and workers who jumped the gate on Tuesday morning hoisted the tricolour and began shouting slogans loudly. The young protesters waved the flag and raised slogans as soon as they got inside. Delhi Police arrived shortly afterwards and detained all of them.

Ashutosh Ranka posted that the security cordon around the Jantar Mantar premises had been breached. He wrote that they had entered Jantar Mantar and that police had now detained them. According to him, this was a message to all the young people that "we can do this". Ranka further wrote, "Gyanu, your game is over now."

CJP co-convener Saurabh Das said, "We have captured Jantar Mantar again! We entered Jantar Mantar and are now being detained. But this is a message to all our young people that we can do this! Gyanu, your game is over now, brother!"

CJP founder Abhijit Dipke praised the agitation against the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He also criticised the Centre's decision to bar protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

The Cockroach Janta Party announced on Monday that protests would be held in Rajasthan in the coming days. The party says its workers have been detained in Rajasthan and some have been placed under house arrest. The protest will be held against the arrests of workers, women, students and journalists who took part in recent agitations in Delhi, and the alleged police atrocities against them.

Delhi Police had detained many people who took part in the CJP agitation. Three of those detained have alleged that they and others who were taken by bus to detention centres were beaten there. The centres were set up as temporary facilities. Medical records note injuries ranging from minor wounds and abrasions to a fracture of one person's right elbow.