Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Ashutosh Ranka on Monday criticised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after he and several party volunteers were released following what Ranka described as “illegal detention”.
On Sunday, Ranka and more than 40 CJP volunteers were detained from the residence of Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Kunki Chowdhury ahead of a planned meeting. They were taken to the 10th Assam Police battalion headquarters in Kahilipara, with authorities not immediately explaining the reason for the detention.
After his release later that evening, Ranka wrote on X that the detention by Assam Police had finally ended. He said the group had asked the police to drop them back at the location from where they had allegedly been picked up.
In another post directed at Chief Minister Sarma, he wrote, “Cockroaches of Assam are just getting started!”
Addressing reporters after his release, Ranka alleged that he and his team had been detained illegally.
“We asked them on what basis we were detained, but the police said they didn't know, and that they had orders from the top,” he said.
Ranka said the planned meeting was intended to discuss issues such as improving schools in Assam, safeguarding the rights of indigenous communities in Kaziranga and what he alleged was the redrawing of constituency boundaries to favour the ruling party in the April election.
“(CM) Himanta Biswa Sarma is afraid of the cockroaches and used his police to threaten us. He forgets that this is the land of Zubeen (Garg), who fought for what is right. We want schools for our children and jobs for our youth,” Ranka said.
He also alleged that Sarma had “repeated the mistake” made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi and said the CJP's campaign would expand across the Northeast.
“Sarma may have all the resources, but we are not afraid. We are fighting for our rights,” Ranka said.
Earlier, a video posted on Ranka's X account showed him seated inside a moving vehicle alongside police personnel.
In the video, Ranka was purportedly heard alleging that Sarma had ordered the detention of him and CJP volunteers because he was “afraid” of the people of Assam. He also said the group wanted to “expose” the condition of schools in the state.
While being taken away by police, Ranka had told reporters that the action showed the Chief Minister was “afraid of being exposed”.
“He (Sarma) is scared that if we show the schools here, the country will know the reality. He is afraid that people will know how their rights were being snatched in Kaziranga for the benefit of corporates. Also, man-made floods have taken scores of lives. But, we are not afraid of him. We know that he won the assembly election by redrawing boundaries of constituencies,” he said.
NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande, speaking to reporters after the detention, alleged that Ranka and 41 others had been “illegally and unconstitutionally detained from a private residence” where a meeting with CJP volunteers was scheduled.
Gawande claimed that the group had not been served any legal notice or informed about the sections under which they were being detained.
“It is nothing short of jungle raj under CM Sarma, who is afraid of any and all kinds of dissent,” Gawande said.
