A meeting of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) volunteers scheduled at a banquet hall in Delhi’s Naraina was cancelled on Wednesday after the venue allegedly revoked the booking at the last minute. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke claimed the cancellation was due to “pressure” from the ruling BJP.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting was called off, Dipke said the organisers had reserved the venue, but when they reached there, they were told that they could not be given the hall because of "pressure".
"Today we were going to hold our volunteers' meet in Delhi. We were not allowed to hold our meeting. They said 'there is pressure on us; we can't give you the hall'," he said.
Dipke claimed that they faced similar refusal at other venues nearby and alleged that people were being "intimidated" against providing venues to the CJP for its meetings.
"People are scared to give us a venue. We are being stopped from holding a meeting. The BJP is threatening people against giving us a hall," he said.
"As much as you threaten, we are not going to be scared," Dipke said.
The development comes days after the CJP announced its national team, with Dipke named its national convener, as the outfit moved to build an organisational structure following its agitation at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on the NEET paper leak issue that led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister.
Dipke led the protest, which continued for 36 days and drew support from students and young volunteers from across the country, as well as opposition leaders.
Activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the protest on June 28 and went on an indefinite hunger strike. He was later shifted to Safdarjung Hospital after his health deteriorated.
The CJP called off its nationwide protest on July 25 after talks with the government.
The agitation also saw police action against protesters when they tried to March to Parliament on July 20. The Congress and other opposition parties have tried to corner the government on the issue in Parliament, leading to a deadlock.
(With inputs from PTI)