CJP leaders urge youth to join Mumbai protest against CEC

Cockroach Janata Party leaders said they were ready to face arrest ahead of their planned Mumbai protest demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. The group urged people to join the agitation and alleged irregularities in electoral rolls

Mumbai: Hours before its scheduled protest at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders on Friday asserted that they were “prepared to go to jail if it can ensure accountability” for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid allegations of “vote theft” against him.

CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke had earlier announced the agitation to demand the resignation of the CEC.

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Speaking to IANS, CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka said: “If going to jail can bring back the votes of 13 crore people, and if going to jail can ensure accountability for Gyanesh Kumar, then we are absolutely ready to go to jail. Gyanesh Kumar is the biggest traitor in this country; he is responsible for 13 crore voters being struck off the voter list. No one has committed a greater betrayal in this country so far.”

“Just like the previous agitation, we won’t back down till our demands are met,” he asserted.

CJP co-convener Saurav Das added: “There was such a massive movement across the country against (then-Union Education Minister) Dharmendra Pradhan, in which the youth came out in very large numbers. We saw the spirit of Mumbai on such a large scale after many years. So, we thought that this time we should come to Mumbai again and start from here.”

Urging people to join the agitation in large numbers, he said: “Today is the auspicious day of Gandhi Jayanti, and I appeal to the youth of the country to unite once again, just as they did during Jantar Mantar 1.0. It should be a grand agitation aimed at saving the country. Whatever changes we aim to bring to the nation will not be possible if our vote is stolen… we have to come together against this conspiracy against the youth.”

Das also claimed that attempts had been made by workers linked to the BJP to hamper the planned agitation.

“The BJP people have sent some workers. We have also provided pictures of the same… No local resident or any citizen of the country would be against this protest because nobody wants their votes to be stolen or their rights to be violated,” he told reporters.

Das stated that CJP had submitted an intimation to the Mumbai Police, saying: “They are a professional force. I believe there will be mutual cooperation from their end as well as ours.”

“The protest will be held in a peaceful manner, and from here the pan-India agitation will be kicked off,” he added.

CJP leader Sidhant Bhardwaj highlighted that people had started gathering at the protest venue hours before the scheduled time of 4 p.m.

“The enthusiasm among the people is the same as it was at Jantar Mantar. These are the people who have come to save the country. Even if they belong to different states, cities or villages, their spirit and their respect for the country remain the same. That is why a large number of people have already gathered here even before the agitation began,” Bhardwaj told IANS.

Expecting more people to join the protest, he said: “We are expecting a minimum of 40,000–50,000 people today, and it could possibly go beyond one lakh.”