Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka address the media at the Press Club of India, in New Delhi
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP, the Students’ Federation of India and the All India Students’ Federation urged people to protest peacefully across the country. They vowed that protests would continue till Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigned.
Addressing a joint press conference, Ashutosh Ranka, co-convener of the CJP, said the “fight” has now started and that, the way it has been treated like “a war”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah should be “ashamed”.
“The fight was against the Election Commission and Gyanesh Kumar. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have turned it into a fight against themselves,” he said.
Saurav Das, CJP co-convener, alleged that there is an “open emergency-like situation” and the state is at “war with its own citizens” to save Mr. Kumar.
“We want to ask Modi and Shah, what such information does Gyanesh Kumar have about you that you are fighting a war with your own citizens? Why are you protecting him? We have been told that RSS is also pressuring the Modi government to remove him, else they will lose power,” he said.
Anti-CEC protest LIVE updates on October 11, 2026
“Does he (CEC) know anything about the 2024 election, when Modi was trailing in Varanasi and suddenly he started leading? Does Gyanesh Kumar know how that happened? Does Gyanesh Kumar know how elections were done in other BJP-ruled States,” he asked.
The CJP leaders said that they were “kidnapped” from the flight on Saturday by police. Mr. Das said that after being detained, the police did not allow them to speak to their lawyers. He said they were worried that their phones would have been hacked and evidence planted after the phones were seized by the police, adding that they were not given a seizure memo.
A Special Executive Magistrate court on Sunday morning directed Delhi Police to release CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Mr. Das and Mr. Ranka from detention on condition of “no breach of peace for a year”.
Mr. Dipke said that they will protest again. “Haven’t signed any bond that says we won’t protest. We will hit the streets again,” he posted on X.
Referring to it, Mr. Ranka accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Mr. Kumar of distubring peace.
Published – October 11, 2026 03:50 pm IST
