
A fellow passenger on board the Mumbai-Delhi flight carrying Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday lashed out at the demonstrators, remarking that "they must be 'Cockroach' who must be behaving like this," alleging that passengers were stranded inside the aircraft and subjected to sloganeering upon landing.
Speaking to reporters at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport after deboarding, the passenger expressed frustration over the commotion and delays caused upon arrival, claiming that slogans were chanted from the front rows of the aircraft as soon as the flight touched down. "We were travelling from Mumbai. We had to wait even after the flight landed. After the flight landed, we could hear sloganeering of 'Inquilab Zindabad' from the front of the aircraft. I don't know who Dipke is. They must be 'Cockroach' who must be behaving like this; I don't know much... They were on a protest for 36 days earlier. But will they create inconvenience everywhere? Public is inconvenienced due to a few people like this," the passenger said.
Questioning the rationale behind public disruptions over alleged voter roll deletions, the flyer asserted that grievances must be addressed through established constitutional institutions rather than causing nuisance to travellers. "If the names of people have been wrongfully deleted, the Supreme Court will look into it. They (protesters) are not going to look into it. Shut down Courts if the public will do everything. There is a system which we follow, shut down that system. If there is a problem, we will protest—will that help?" the co-passenger added.
The confrontation aboard the flight coincided with high drama at Terminal 3, where Dipke claimed that he was detained by Delhi Police personnel immediately upon landing from Mumbai ahead of the 'Jantar Mantar 2.0' protest, triggering a heated standoff between the CJP leader and security officials.
CJP activist Abhijeet Dipke, who was on a flight to Delhi from Mumbai to participate in the protest, posted a video on Instagram claiming that Police were detaining him and his associates even as they deboarded the aircraft at Delhi Airport. In the video, Dipke is heard alleging,"So, you can see that Delhi Police is entering the plane to arrest us. They are all entering the plane. We just landed. All the Delhi Police officers are standing in the aisle. They are trying to arrest us from inside the plane. The entire Delhi Police is getting on the plane...This is the fear of Narendra Modi...Not even Indira Gandhi did this during the Emergency. All we wanted to do is a peaceful protest, and they are picking us up from the flight like we are criminals."
"You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight. This is something not even Indira Gandhi had done. This is dictatorship, where Delhi Police has entered the flight and is trying to arrest us. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested... We are not afraid of you," Dipke is heard saying.
This comes as CJP is protesting today, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police continued to detain activists after informing them that there was no legal sanction for the protest. (ANI)
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