India’s BJP-led NDA government will be removed from power in the 2029 Lok Sabha election, according to Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).
He also urged people across the country to prepare for a change in the central government. He made the call at a protest rally in Kochi, Kerala, on Saturday.
The rally was held against the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter roll and against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Dipke said a government can be changed only through elections, and repeated his demand for an independent and impartial electoral system.
The rally was part of the CJP’s “Jantar Mantar at Kochi” programme.
According to the news agency PTI, Dipke alleged that the BJP government had in effect declared war on the country’s young generation to protect the chief election commissioner. He also asked why Gyanesh Kumar was so important to the central government.
Referring to his arrest with CJP leaders Saurabh Das and Ashutosh Ranka on charges of entering Jantar Mantar in Delhi with the national flag, Dipke said he would carry the national flag wherever he went.
“I was sent to jail for the crime of raising this tricolour. My two brothers, Saurabh and Ashutosh, were jailed for the same reason. The last time this happened in India was under British rule,” he said.
Comparing the NDA government with British rule, Dipke alleged that the current government is trying to curtail people’s freedoms and rights.
“If you want to arrest me, arrest me from anywhere in the country, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala or Tamil Nadu. Arrest me from every place, but I will come back and raise this tricolour again,” he said.
Dipke alleged that the central government is gradually trying to control everything from people’s food habits and their freedom to marry and love to their right to vote. He claimed the SIR process is being used to influence election results.
“First they wanted to control what people eat, then whom they marry and love, and now they want to control whom people vote for,” he said.
Dipke said India’s state was founded on the ideals of BR Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
He claimed the country had largely fallen silent over the past 10 to 12 years, but that the Jantar Mantar protests had given people back the courage to speak and the strength to protest.
Dipke also accused the central government of cracking down on young protesters, saying young people were being targeted because they had begun to question those in power. Accusing the BJP of creating religious division, he said riots were being stirred up for political gain.
A large crowd of people of all ages joined the rally at Rajendra Maidan, along with leaders of youth and social and cultural organisations. Cultural performances were also staged.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report