Abhijeet Dipke linked the police action on students, his concerns about institutions, his criticism of the government and his support for farmers, while repeating his demand that Home Minister Amit Shah should resign.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday alleged that the order to use force against students during the July 20 “Sansad Chalo” march must have come from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and demanded his resignation over the police crackdown. Dipke also said democracy was in “danger” in the country and raised questions over institutions, including the judiciary.
He made the remarks after returning to his home in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar following a CJP-led protest of more than a month at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over the NEET paper leak, which ended with the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Speaking to reporters at his residence, Dipke said, “Saving democracy is not merely an Opposition issue now. The people of the country will have to come together (to save it).”
“There is a question mark even on judiciary. We have all seen how the ED and CBI were used to break parties like the Shiv Sena and the NCP. The big institutions in the country had a duty to keep democracy alive and not create the dictatorship of a single man. They let it happen. To stop this, not only the Opposition, but even the people will have to come together,” he added.
JOSHI A WEIRD MAN: DIPKE
The 30-year-old activist also criticised the appointment of Pralhad Joshi as the new Education Minister and called him a “weird” man. “If the Education Minister of the country applauds rapists, this means another weird man has been brought in after removing Dharmendra Pradhan. What message is being given to the country? They cannot do anything else because their party is full of goons. People like Ram Rahim come out on parole during their tenure. This government supports goons and rapists,” he alleged.
Asked about yoga guru and entrepreneur Ramdev’s comments that Gen Z, who led the stir at Jantar Mantar, had defamed India’s culture, Dipke said the protest was constitutional. “We have fought for our rights against the paper leak in a constitutional way. If agitating with photos of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar in a legal way is defaming culture, we have done it. Baba Ramdev should look into Patanjali about which the Supreme Court has made adverse comments in the past,” he said.
“Gen Z can handle the country and its culture well. He should concentrate on Patanjali or else it may go out of business,” he added.
‘AMIT SHAH SHOULD DEFINITELY RESIGN’
Dipke also backed Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s demand for Shah’s resignation. “Amit Shah should definitely resign. There is another thing being said: that the Cockroach Janta Party is receiving funding from outside or that the movement is being run from outside. If this is happening then it reflects the failure of a person like Amit Shah. If the CJP is being run from outside then what kind of ‘Chanakya’ is he? The order to use force against students on July 20 must have been issued by Amit Shah and no one else,” he claimed.
He said CJP would support farmers if they sought the party’s help during their protests. “Farmers also want their children to have successful careers. Earlier they stood with us in our agitation. If farmer leaders require our support, we will stand with them. Wherever farmers need us, we will stand with them. I also belong to a farmer family. Many of us are from farmer families,” he said.
Dipke said the police should follow the Constitution and not BJP orders. “If not, they should switch to ‘khaki chaddi’ and stand before the BJP headquarters, saying ‘main bhi chowkidar’,” he said.
He further added, “If the police fear video recording from agitators, that means they have something wrong going on in their minds. Cameras were there on my face round the clock during the Delhi stir, but I did not fear. The police in this country should follow the Constitution. They don’t belong to a party but they belong to the country. They are not those who will run on BJP’s WhatsApp forwards.”
