"The more you suppress, the more revolution will spread": CJPs Ashutosh Ranka alleges detention by Assam police aimed at "bullying"

Ranka, who was subsequently released, said the organisation's founder Abhijeet Dipke had initially planned to travel to Assam following the detention but was now focusing on preparations for CJP's proposed October 2 protest over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Abhijit's plan was based on our arrest yesterday. But as I've been released, Abhijit is not coming. He is busy preparing for the protest planned for October 2nd regarding SIR and Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, Ranka told reporters here.

Ranka alleged that the police action was not a detention but an illegal act, claiming that CJP members were picked up from private property without being informed of the grounds.

It wasn't a detention. It was completely illegal because they picked us up from private property. We don't call this detention; we call it kidnapping, he said.

When we asked the police on what grounds we were detained, their only reply was, 'Sir, we have orders from above, so we arrested you, detained you.' And even after that, when we continuously asked while we were there, they couldn't give us any other reason, Ranka alleged.

The CJP leaders were detained on Sunday shortly before the organisation's first regional volunteers' meeting in Guwahati was scheduled to begin near the Assam Secretariat. The party said several senior leaders and Assam-based volunteers, including Ranka, Ankit Bhardwaj and Prem Aakash, were taken to a police facility. Reports said around 30 CJP workers were detained.

The CJP had described the proposed gathering as a peaceful meeting on private property. Assam Police has not publicly provided, in the sources reviewed, a detailed explanation for the detentions.

Ranka alleged that the action was intended to intimidate the organisation and directly accused Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of attempting to suppress its activities.

The government's intention was to bully us. Hemanta Biswa Sarma wanted to intimidate us, but Hemanta Biswa Sarma made the same mistake that Amit Shah made on July 20th. The more you suppress, the more the revolution will spread, he said.

Now, Assam CJP will see how students and youth issues will be raised in the coming times, Ranka added.

Ranka said CJP plans to expand its activities in Assam and other Northeastern states, focusing on what it described as student- and youth-related issues.

There are many issues in Assam; there are a lot of local issues here. The condition of schools here is very poor, especially in the remote areas where most schools don't even have their own buildings, he said.

A complete facade has been created in the name of development, but we want the country to see the reality of that development, Ranka added.

He said the organisation would also raise issues concerning floods, Kaziranga and other local concerns, while planning to visit other Northeastern states.

All the student and youth-centric issues that the youth of Assam have been struggling with for a long time, we will work on all of them in the coming time. We will definitely go to other Northeast states. We have received a very good response, a very good support, Ranka said.

On CJP's demand for the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Ranka said the organisation would begin a nationwide protest from October 2.

It will happen now. For 48 hours, the ball was in Gyanesh Kumar's court. Now the ball is in CJP's court. We'll start our nationwide protest from 2nd October, and we won't back down until Ganeshkumar resigns, he said.

Ranka also alleged that more than 13 crore people had been removed from electoral rolls and questioned the process of electoral boundary redrawing in Assam. These claims were made by Ranka and CJP and have not been independently established.

The remarks come amid a wider political dispute over the Election Commission's functioning and the SIR exercise. An Indian Express report cited by CJP had reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on multiple occasions concerning SIR-related decisions. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of internal disagreement and maintained that decisions concerning SIR were taken with the unanimous approval of the Commission.

Ranka also criticised the reported denial of permission for CJP's proposed October 2 protest in Mumbai.

Who gave Ganeshkumar permission to remove the names of 13 crore people? Who gave permission? The fake way they redrew the assembly boundaries here, who gave permission to Ganeshkumar for that? he asked.

Dipke had earlier said Mumbai Police denied permission for the proposed October 2 protest and threatened a Jail Bharo Andolan if the group was denied the right to protest. Mumbai Police subsequently clarified that it was not empowered to grant permission for gatherings at Shivaji Park under a Bombay High Court order and advised the organisers to seek an alternative venue.

The CJP detention in Guwahati came a day after its leadership met representatives of Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal. (ANI)