NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday extended support to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests, calling the jailing of young people for peacefully waving the Tricolour “an act of cowardice”, soon after its leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were remanded to five days in judicial custody.
"Waving the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime. Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice. Students. Youth. Journalists. The INDIA bloc. Different banners, one cause. All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights," Gandhi wrote on X.
"Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it," he added.
This was Gandhi’s first public statement explicitly backing the CJP.
The move is significant as the Congress has consistently kept a distance from the CJP and it's protests in the past.
At a recent press conference and Tuesday’s INDIA bloc meeting, Gandhi had stressed that the ongoing protests were part of a common struggle and should not be seen as parallel agitations.
Police sources said Das and Ranka were lodged in Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a designated protest site. They and fellow CJP member Ajinkya Shinde were produced before a Special Executive Magistrate on Wednesday morning.
All three were detained early Tuesday after allegedly entering the area without authorisation and raising slogans demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
Meanwhile, Shinde was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months and released on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000, police said.
Notably, the CJP leaders' remand came a day after INDIA bloc leaders and civil society representatives met over tea hosted by Gandhi to discuss the next phase of their agitation against alleged “vote chori” and the CEC.
At the meeting, Opposition leaders vowed to fight together for the “restoration of democracy” and seek accountability from those allegedly responsible for electoral manipulation. Gandhi asserted that political resistance would continue.
The meeting also discussed the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site, with Gandhi saying, “We are going to challenge the decision.”
A mock impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar at Ramlila Maidan and Metro rides by MPs to challenge travel restrictions were among the proposals discussed to sustain their agitation.
The Opposition parties also decided to mobilise five lakh people from across the country for their joint rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1.