Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

CockroachJanta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday claimed orders to use force against students during the July 20 “Sansad Chalo” march must have come from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his resignation over the police crackdown.

Talking to reporters at his residence in hometown Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in central Maharashtra, he said democracy was in “danger” in the country and questions were being raised even on judiciary, while central probe agencies were being used to break political parties.

“Saving democracy is not merely an Opposition issue now. The people of the country will have to come together (to save it),” Dipke insisted on his return home after more than a month-long CJP-led protest in New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over the NEET exam paper leak, which culminated in the resignation of then-Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. “There is a question mark even on judiciary. We all have seen how ED and CBI were used to break parties like the Shiv Sena and the NCP. The big institutions in the country had a duty to keep democracy alive and not create dictatorship of a single man. They let it happen. To stop this, not only the Opposition, but even the people will have to come together,” he asserted.

The 30-year-old activist criticised the appointment of Pralhad Joshi as new Education Minister and called him a “weird” man. “If the Education Minister of the country applauds rapists, this means another weird man has been brought in after removing Dharmendra Pradhan. What message is being given to the country? They cannot do anything else because their party is full of goons. People like Ram Rahim (a rape convict) come out on parole during their tenure. This government supports goons and rapists,’’ he alleged.

The CJP founder insisted his outfit’s protest over the NEET paper leak was constitutional. “We have fought for our rights against the paper leak in a constitutional way. If agitating with photos of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar in a legal way is defaming culture, we have done it. Baba Ramdev should look into Patanjali about which the Supreme Court has made adverse comments in the past,” he maintained.

“Gen Z can handle the country and its culture well. He (Ramdev) should concentrate on Patanjali else it may go out of business,” Dipke remarked. He supported the demand for Shah’s resignation made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. “Amit Shah should definitely resign.