New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday mounted a sharp attack on the central government over the five-day judicial custody handed to Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, asserting that waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar cannot be treated as a crime, as reported by ANI.
The row began after Das, CJP’s chief spokesperson, and Ranka gathered at the historic demonstration site in the national capital on Tuesday morning. Despite prohibitory orders in force, the leaders unfurled the tricolour to register their protest. The Delhi Police subsequently detained them alongside other party workers. A local court on Wednesday remanded both leaders to judicial custody for five days, triggering immediate political condemnation.
Questioning the authorities, Gandhi termed the penal action an act of cowardice. “Citizens are demanding their constitutional rights. Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will take it back,” the Congress leader stated in a post on X. He maintained that demonstrators across varied banners—students, youth, working journalists, and the opposition INDIA bloc—share a common cause against the suppression of democratic voices.
Responding to Gandhi’s remarks, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke expressed gratitude to the Leader of the Opposition for challenging the arrest. Addressing reporters in Nagpur, Dipke accused the ruling establishment of running an “unofficial Emergency” across the country.
“If you want to impose an Emergency in the country, do it officially. Why are you running an unofficial Emergency where people are sent to five days of detention just for waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar? Such things did not happen even during the Emergency,” Dipke said. He alleged that the activists were initially held without access to legal counsel before being produced before the magistrate.
Dipke added that while the CJP functions as an independent pressure group campaigning against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral manipulation, its agitation shares common ground with the INDIA bloc’s fight for constitutional accountability.