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Ashutosh Ranka, volunteers detained in Assam ahead of meet: ‘Cops acting like goons’
In a statement, Ranka and other CJP volunteers in Assam were detained ahead of a regional meet-up in the northeastern state.
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Over 30 Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) workers, including four members of its central committee, were detained by Assam Police in Guwahati on Sunday ahead of the party’s scheduled regional volunteers’ meeting, according to the party.
CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka, who was among those detained, alleged, “Police were acting like goons since morning, it was a peaceful meeting at a private property but police kept detaining our team members and now all of us have been detained.”
The party’s regional volunteers’ meeting was originally scheduled for 10am at Assam Shree Parshuram Seva Sadan on Kharga Choudhury Road in Athgaon.
The venue was later shifted to Chowdhury Tila, opposite the Assam Secretariat, after organisers alleged that pressure had been exerted on the original venue to cancel the booking.
Ranka, who had arrived in Guwahati on Saturday along with CJP members Ankit Bhardwaj, Akash Prem, Varun Agrawal and Anam, had earlier said the venue cancellations would not stop the party from holding its programme in Assam.
Speaking before his detention, Ranka accused the Assam government of trying to prevent the CJP from raising questions about the condition of the state’s schools and other issues.
“Himanta Biswa Sarma is afraid that we’ll expose the condition of the schools here, the reality of man-made floods, and other issues; that is why they are threatening us. But he doesn’t know what we are made of, we won’t stop until we expose them,” Ranka said.
“We were stopped and threatened since morning, but we are not scared. Himanta should know what we are made of,” Ranka said after he was detained.
Police have not yet issued a statement on the detentions.
