NEW DELHI: Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) activist Abhijit Dipke on Tuesday hit out at the Centre after several members of his team were detained in Delhi, calling those who consider hoisting the national flag at Jantar Mantar a violation of the law “traitors”.“Our team went to Jantar Mantar this morning and hoisted the tricolor. When did hoisting the tricolor become a violation? Whoever thinks that hoisting the tricolor at Jantar Mantar is a violation is a traitor. And if Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, Ajinkya Shinde, and the others who were arrested for hoisting the tricolor are charged, then there should be strict action taken against it. How can you arrest someone for hoisting the tricolor? What kind of country is this? What kind of rule is this?” Dipke questioned.Addressing the police action, he cautioned against denying legal rights to those in custody.“The whole country will become Jantar Mantar. Jantar Mantar is not just a location; it is a spirit of resistance,” Dipke said. “We hope that the Delhi Police will let them talk to their lawyers. It shouldn’t happen that, as it happened to me, they are kept for 24 hours without being allowed to speak to a lawyer. As a legal procedure, they should be allowed to speak to a lawyer because you cannot just pick someone up like this.”The CJP leader further described the crackdown as the “greatest example of a dictatorial mentality”, alleging that the government was treating public spaces as its private domain.“The dictatorship doesn’t want anyone to go to Jantar Mantar and hoist the tricolor. They think the whole country is their personal property. It is not like that; Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of this country, the 140 crore Indians,” he added.Dipke vowed to continue the agitation until their demand was met. “We will hoist the tricolor there, and we will keep hoisting it until Jyanesh Kumar resigns,” he said.Dipke’s remarks came after Delhi Police detained his colleagues, including Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde, who had gathered at Jantar Mantar earlier on Tuesday.
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The group began its demonstration in the early hours of the morning, but security personnel took the protesters into custody shortly after they arrived at the site.According to an official notice, Delhi Police on Monday removed Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest venues and named three alternative locations for demonstrations: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi.The notice said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had constituted a committee to identify alternative venues where citizens could exercise their right to organise protests. Based on the committee’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar was de-notified as a designated protest site.