‘JAIL ME A HUNDRED TIMES’: CJP CHIEF DEFIES MODI-SHAH GOVERNMENT, VOWS TO RENEW STREET FIGHT AGAINST ELECTION COMMISSION

October 11, 2026

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Sunday vowed to resume street protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, declaring that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Union Home Minister Amit Shah could intimidate him into abandoning the campaign. Dipke also challenged the conditions imposed on him after his release from detention, asserting that he had signed no bond barring him and other CJP leaders from holding future demonstrations.

“We will hit the streets again. We are not afraid of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah,” Dipke told reporters at Nagpur airport after returning to Maharashtra from Delhi. He was travelling onwards to Hingoli to attend the last rites of his grandmother, who died while he was in police custody.

Escalating his criticism of the government, Dipke declared that repeated arrests would not deter the movement. “Put me in jail a hundred times; we are not afraid of your dictatorship. We will end this dictatorship,” he said, signalling that the CJP intended to continue its campaign despite the security crackdown that prevented its planned demonstration in New Delhi.

Dipke’s remarks came amid a dispute over the circumstances surrounding his grandmother’s death and the efforts made to inform him while he remained detained. Delhi Police released a video seeking to refute allegations by the CJP and Dipke’s mother that he had not been informed about the bereavement during his detention on October 10. Police maintained that the news had been conveyed sensitively and that assistance had been offered to enable him to travel home for the funeral, but that he had declined the offer.

Dipke offered a different account at Nagpur airport. He said police personnel informed him that his grandmother had died and that he asked to use his mobile phone for two minutes to contact a cousin living in the village. According to him, officers refused to hand over the phone and instead asked him to provide the cousin’s number. Dipke said he could not recall the number from memory and again requested access to his phone so that he could retrieve it, but his request was refused.

The conflicting accounts have intensified the controversy over how the police handled the personal bereavement of a detained political organiser. While the police have maintained that they offered assistance, Dipke’s account suggests that he was unable to make the contact he sought during custody. The circumstances remain disputed.

The CJP founder’s release followed his preventive detention alongside party leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, who had travelled to Delhi for the proposed demonstration demanding Kumar’s removal. The three were detained after their flight landed in the capital on Saturday and were released by an executive magistrate on Sunday, subject to a condition that they maintain peace and good behaviour for one year.

At a press conference after their release, Ranka and Das alleged that Delhi Police had forcibly detained them, seized their mobile phones without providing the necessary documentation and denied them access to lawyers. They also accused the authorities of creating an atmosphere of fear across the capital to protect the chief election commissioner. These allegations have not been independently established.

The CJP’s agitation centres on allegations of irregularities in electoral-roll revision, particularly the Special Intensive Revision exercise, and demands for accountability from the Election Commission. The proposed demonstration at Jantar Mantar was prevented from proceeding as planned after Delhi Police refused permission and deployed extensive security personnel across the capital.

Dipke’s latest remarks indicate that the detentions have not persuaded the CJP to withdraw its demand. Instead, the party has vowed to return to the streets, keeping the confrontation over electoral transparency, preventive policing and the treatment of protesters alive even after the release of its detained leaders.

The renewed defiance also ensures that the controversy surrounding Dipke’s missed family farewell will remain part of the wider dispute. As he travels to Hingoli to mourn his grandmother, his declaration that the movement will continue places the CJP’s campaign back at the centre of the political confrontation over the Election Commission and the government’s response to dissent