CJP leaders, freed after detention, accuse Centre of Emergency-like rule and vow sharper agitation

Top leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were taken into custody by police in Delhi a day earlier, before a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. On Sunday (October 11, 2026), after being produced before an executive magistrate, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das were released on conditions.

Immediately after coming out, the CJP leaders held a press conference at the Press Club of India in Delhi. They launched a strong attack on the Union government and announced that the agitation would not be withdrawn but would be intensified.

At the press conference, CJP leader Ashutosh Ranka launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ranka said, "India has never seen such a frightened Prime Minister. Our direct fight was against the Election Commission and Gyanesh Kumar, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned it into a fight against himself and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Modi has even surpassed the Emergency of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's time. We had only heard what the Emergency was, but yesterday we actually experienced it."

The CJP alleged that, out of the Prime Minister's fear, the administration brought the whole of Delhi to a standstill. Ranka said, "Modi has become so nervous that he directly shut down railway and metro services. Even during Indira Gandhi's Emergency, the railways were never shut in the country. But by stopping the railways and the metro, Modi has put ordinary citizens of the country to great hardship."

Speaking on the conduct of the police, Ashutosh Ranka said, "We were not detained in a lawful manner; we were abducted directly by police entering the aircraft. The whole country saw how we were abducted. The police showed an utterly inhumane face and beat people up. Abhijit Dipke had told them that his grandmother had died, yet Delhi Police behaved very badly with him. We feel deeply ashamed of such a Delhi Police."

Ranka also said that, because of his grandmother's death, Abhijit Dipke left immediately after his release for Hingoli in Maharashtra to attend the funeral.

Well-known YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who was detained during the same agitation, has also been released. In a video message after his release, Rathee too strongly condemned the police action and called his detention an "abduction".

The CJP has made it clear that, without being cowed by this repressive action by the government and police, the agitation against the Election Commission will be made more aggressive in the coming days.