CJP founder, AISA chief among 100 detained in India

NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Delhi Police detained around 100 protesters, including Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and All India Students' Association (AISA) chief Neha Bora, ahead of a flag rally in the Indian capital on Friday.

AISA alleged that Bora had been singled out by the police and demanded that they disclose her whereabouts.

Connaught Place was under heavy security, with barricades and a large police presence ahead of the “Lehra Do Tiranga” (wave the national flag) rally called by the CJP at Central Park. Police denied permission for the march, citing prohibitory orders in the area.

Within hours of the CJP announcing the rally on Thursday, the New Delhi Municipal Council said Central Park would remain closed to the public on Friday and Saturday.

The rally was called to express solidarity with two other CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Renka, who have been in jail for five days over alleged trespassing at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site.
Despite the security deployment and barricades, protesters continued to head towards Connaught Place and other parts of Delhi.

Before the rally, the CJP urged people on social media platform X to visit Connaught Place in groups of fewer than five, take photographs with the national flag and upload them on social media after leaving the venue. The message carried the slogan, “Waving the Tiranga is not a crime”, along with the hashtag #LehraDoTiranga.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs also led a procession carrying the national flag in support of protests seeking the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and a halt to the Special Intensive Revision exercise. Police stopped AAP supporters on their way to Connaught Place.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas, who joined Students' Federation of India activists at the rally, said, “It is strange that the national flag is forbidden in India. We will hold the national flag and stand on the streets of Delhi howsoever hard they try to suppress us.”

Meanwhile, Connaught Place traders wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to protect their business interests.

In Shankar Market, shopkeepers clashed with protesters and asked them to leave, saying the demonstrations were affecting their businesses. Protesters, however, alleged that the police were protecting the shopkeepers.