Guwahati: Assam Police on Sunday detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and several senior functionaries and activists shortly before the organisation’s first regional volunteers’ meeting in Guwahati, triggering a political dispute.CJP convener Abhijeet Dipke said he will travel to Assam on Monday as Ranka remained in custody.“I’ll be flying to Assam tomorrow morning, as Ashu has not been released by police. We are not going to cave in to threats of arrest or jail. Feel free to arrest me at the airport itself tomorrow,” Dipke said in a social media post.The detained functionaries were taken to the 10th Assam Police battalion campus in Kahilipara, according to the party, where all the 35 detainees, including Ranka, Ankit Bhardwaj, Premakash Golu and CJP’s Assam coordinator Sahil, have begun an indefinite hunger strike. “The hunger strike will continue until all 35 members are released from custody,” CJP said.Lawyers who went to meet them were reportedly denied permission. Police sources said CJP had not obtained permission to hold the meeting at the proposed venue near the state secretariat. However, no charges have been filed against the detained activists.Earlier in the day, police blocked access to the venue, preventing volunteers from reaching the hilltop site. CJP had planned to bring together around 200-300 volunteers from across the northeast.“They stopped us from holding a peaceful volunteers’ meeting and are now taking us away from the venue against our will,” CJP leader Sheikh Sahil Uddin Shah said while being taken away in a police bus.The meeting was initially scheduled for 10 am at Assam Shree Parshuram Seva Sadan on Kharga Choudhury Road in Athgaon. Organisers later shifted it to Chowdhury Tila, opposite the secretariat, alleging pressure on the original venue.Ranka alleged that “the gathering was being held peacefully on the private property, when police began detaining members of the CJP team.” He also claimed the authorities were trying to prevent the party from raising issues related to govt schools and man-made flooding.Opposition parties criticised the detentions. Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi asked, “Why is BJP so scared of the youth? Is the govt terrified because the youth have rejected BJP’s divisive politics of Hindu-Muslim polarization?”The detentions came a day after Ranka met Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) functionaries and intellectuals in Guwahati.
