Mumbai: Striking a defiant note, CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke declared that the outfit’s plan to launch a nationwide protest against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar from Shivaji Park on Friday will go ahead as scheduled despite police refusing to grant permission for it.




Police had refused the nod, citing restrictions governing gatherings at the ground. “If Devendra Fadnavis can have a political rally at Shivaji Park, then we can protest as well,” Dipke asserted on Thursday, adding that protest is fundamentally an act of dissent and requires no permission. “Did Mahatma Gandhi have permission to protest against the British?”




Taking “full responsibility” for any impending police action, he told reporters, “Mumbai Police is not Delhi Police. So I know it will go well.”




Asked what he would do if he were to be arrested, the 31-year-old quipped, “I will come again and again and again.” Separately, CJP’s co-convener Saurav Das said if protesters are thrown into jail, they would launch a “jail theek karo andolan”.




The gathering was also reminded of the outfit having been born out of satire. Asked why CJP did not approach the judiciary for police permission to protest, Dipke quoted a popular Bollywood dialogue to indicate that such a hearing would drag on: “Tareek pe tareek, tareek pe tareek.”




When asked what protective measures protesters should take against potential force, he recalled that those who had protested against the NEET paper leak in Delhi had responded to police brutality with memes. “This govt can’t handle humour.”




Dipke didn’t spare the judiciary either. Asked about the secret behind CJP’s rapid, massive success, he said, “You will have to ask CJI Surya Kant,” referring to remarks earlier this year that inadvertently inspired the party’s satirical name.




Dipke put forth three principal demands: a freeze on the special intensive revision of voter lists, the initiation of criminal charges against Kumar, and the mandatory inclusion of civil society members in future CEC appointments.




He alleged that EVMs are “not reliable”. “Voting in various parts of North America and Europe is done on ballot paper. Any electronic device can be hacked.”




He dismissed the possibility of CJP contesting the 2029 general elections. “They won’t let us register in the first place. Our supporters’ names will be cut from voter lists, and ED and CBI will come knocking,” Dipke said. “CJP does not have all the answers, but we have the ability to fight, and we will fight to the end.”




The railways beefed up security and deployed additional commercial staff at Dadar station ahead of the planned protest.




After Mumbai, CJP’s protest is set to move to Goa, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Patna, Ranchi and UP, and culminate at Jantar Mantar in Delhi at the end of the month.