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CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka, several leaders detained ahead of Guwahati meet

Assam Police blocked access to the venue and detained CJP leaders and volunteers shortly before the organisation’s first regional meeting, which was expected to draw around 200-300 participants.

Guwahati: Assam Police on Sunday detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and several other senior leaders and activists in Guwahati, shortly before the organisation’s first regional volunteers’ meeting was scheduled to begin near the Assam Secretariat.

CJP leaders said its senior leadership, including Ranka, Ankit Bhardwaj and Prem Aakash, along with Assam-based volunteers, were detained and taken to a police facility in Guwahati.

“Assam Police have detained the CJP’s senior leadership, including Ashutosh Ranka, Prem Aakash and me, along with several of our Assam volunteers. We have been taken to a police facility in Guwahati,” Bhardwaj told The Times of India.

Police had blocked access to the venue since morning, preventing volunteers from reaching the hilltop meeting site. The organisation had planned to bring together around 200-300 volunteers from across the region.

“They stopped us from holding a peaceful volunteers’ meeting and are now taking us away from the venue against our will,” a CJP leader said while being taken away in a police bus.The detentions came a day after the leadership of Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal met CJP leaders, including Ranka, in Guwahati. The meeting discussed several issues, including the recent floods in Assam and the CJP’s plans to expand its activities in the state.

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In recent days, the CJP has also held discussions with prominent citizens and smaller regional political groups that have maintained an anti-BJP position in Assam.

Ranka, speaking to reporters, alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was concerned that the CJP’s campaign highlighting the condition of schools in the state would draw wider attention to the issue.

“Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared that if we show the reality of schools in Assam, the country will come to know about their condition. Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared because of how the rights of our people are being taken away in Kaziranga, and how land, forests and water are being taken away and given to corporates,” he said.

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