Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and several left organizations protested in Delhi on Saturday, October 10, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Delhi Police has made strict arrangements to prevent the protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar. Despite this, a large number of students, social workers, common people and politicians took to the streets. Many of these people have also been detained.
Among the people detained by the police are Abhijit Deepke, Neha Bora, apart from these, politicians like Mamata Banerjee, Vrinda Karat, Dipankar Bhattacharya and Arvind Kejriwal are also included.
But amid all this, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been protesting for the last few days demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, is not in Delhi. He is addressing Congress' 'Echoes of Students' program in Chennai, several kilometers away. Before this he also met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay.
Along with this, he made a post on X on Saturday evening and said, "Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the youth. Arrest all of us. We have you surrounded and we will not back down. Remember my words: We already have the necessary information."
However, his absence in Delhi became a topic of discussion among many people. Saturday's agitation is taking place despite strict arrangements by Delhi Police. This has made it almost impossible to reach Jantar Mantar. Delhi Police had said on Friday itself that permission has not been given for the demonstration to be held on the call of Cockroach Janata Party.
On October 10, many trains to and from Delhi were cancelled. 45 metro stations were closed. Checking and barricading was increased on the borders of Delhi and many people were even detained from their homes. Leaders of the India Alliance, including Rahul Gandhi, demonstrated against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on the streets of Delhi between 6 and 8 October.
Many people commented on the absence of the Leader of Opposition on the issue. Content creator Amit Kilhore wrote, "Why has Rahul Gandhi gone to Chennai today, when there is so much tension in Delhi?" Responding to a post by journalist Bhupendra Chaubey, Valsad MP Dhawal Patel commented, "On the most important day of the protests, Rahul Gandhi, the poster boy of your protests, fled to Chennai."
The issues of Congress and Cockroach Janata Party are same, but the way of raising them is different. Rahul Gandhi never participated in the protests against the NEET paper leak by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in June and July. Even during that time, his focus remained on the 'Chhatra Ki Goonj' programs organized by the National Students Union of India (NSUI) across the country.
But on July 21, they staged a dharna outside the Prime Minister's residence in protest against the violence against students and police action during the march taken out on the call of CJP. Congress and CJP have not been seen protesting together in any movement till now. Both have raised similar issues, but their protests have been different.
At the same time, Cockroach Janata Party is also seen close to Aam Aadmi Party. CJP founder Abhijit Deepke and co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka have both previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party. Ajay Gudavarthy, Associate Professor of Political Science at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), says that Rahul Gandhi has not been a part of any 'cockroach' movement before.
According to him, even if Rahul Gandhi was in Delhi, it would not have made much difference. He said, "It is not hidden from anyone that Congress and the cockroach Janata Party never united. Even though both raise similar issues, Congress feels that CJP is a proxy of the Aam Aadmi Party."
Senior journalist Aditi Phadnis says that CJP also does not want to be associated with any political party. She says, "CJP fears that by joining any political party, those youth who are supporters of BJP but are currently angry with it, may move away from it."
Political scientist Gilles Verniers says that Rahul Gandhi has been leading the protests on the streets of Delhi. But today's protest is a civil society movement. This is not a matter of party politics. He said, "I think the role of Leader of the Opposition is very delicate at this time and Rahul Gandhi is playing it well. He does not want to create any impression that he should be worshiped as a hero."
On Saturday, Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janata Party leaders Abhijit Deepke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das from inside the plane after it reached Delhi. There were reports of famous YouTuber Dhruv Rathi being detained from his home in Gurugram and content creator Kavya Karnataka also being detained. Along with Neha Bora, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Dipankar Bhattacharya are also reported to have been taken into custody.
Rahul Gandhi said in a video message on Saturday evening, "Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat, Gyanesh Kumar, Ajit Doval, the villains of this story, are now slowly being surrounded. The circle around them is narrowing." On mass detention of protesters, he said, "Do whatever you want. Call as many police as you want. Arrest us all. Don't panic - we are surrounding you from all sides, and we are not going to back down."
