Delhi Protest LIVE: Dipke calls for Tricolour gathering at CP's Central Park on October 16, says ready to go to jail | India News

Delhi protest LIVE: CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, who arrived in Delhi on Wednesday, has called for a gathering with the Tricolour at Central Park on October 16, asserting that unfurling the national flag is not a crime. His call comes hours after CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody for allegedly breaching Jantar Mantar, with Dipke comparing their arrest to the treatment of freedom fighters under British rule. Meanwhile, the DMRC told the Supreme Court that metro services in the national capital were never completely shut down, in its reply to a plea alleging contempt of court orders on transport curbs.Ranka, Das sent to jailDas and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody earlier in the day, while CJP national organisation in-charge Ajinkya Shinde was released on a personal bond, the party's legal affairs head Ratna Singh said.The Delhi Police earlier on Wednesday said the three had been placed under preventive arrest. Das, Ranka and Shinde were detained after they entered the Jantar Mantar early on Tuesday morning, a day after the site was denotified as a protest venue.What did the Delhi Police argue before the executive magistrate?According to the CJP counsel, advocate Abhisht Hela, the Delhi Police argued before the SEM that both Das and Ranka had given a call and asked people to reach at Jantar Mantar, thereby carrying out criminal trespass. The cops also flagged a previous bond signed by the accused before an SEM at Delhi Cantt Police Station on Sunday to not carry out any breach of peace, and cited its violation.Hela said the police had argued that “there was a presumption that the accused might carry out a crime” if they are released. Hela maintained that Das and Ranka had not violated the bond signed earlier, and said they had not “given any call.”‘No parallel protests, one singular protest’: Rahul Gandhi during meeting of INDIA bloc leaders, student activistsLeader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had called leaders of the INDIA bloc, civil society members and activists for tea at his residence on Tuesday. During the meeting, he said, “We are all standing here together as one. As I said yesterday, there are no parallel protests, there is one singular protest and the protest has one mission -- ‘restoration of democracy in India.’”“The one method of expression of democracy was Jantar Mantar, and now, the government has decided that Jantar Mantar can no longer be used to express democratic feelings. Well, we are going to challenge that idea,” he said, according to PTI news agency.‘Prepare once again for a crushing defeat in 2029’: Amit Shah slams OppositionMeanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday slammed the Opposition. “I want to tell Shri Rahul ji and his associates to prepare themselves once again for a crushing defeat in 2029. In the 2029 general elections, the NDA is going to win with a resounding majority, and the Congress is going to face defeat for the fourth consecutive time,” he said.The union home minister listed Congress' poll losses over the years, and also called for Rahul to “introspect”. “For 33 years, no Congress Chief Minister has won in Tripura. In Bengal, the Congress party has not achieved a victory for 54 years. In states like Bengal, Tripura, and Gujarat, the Congress party has faced defeat for three, four, or even five decades. I want to ask Shri Rahul Gandhi directly: is this the result of the SIR? The SIR only came into effect after 2024,” Shah said.Congress MP KC Venugopal countered the criticism. “Heights of irony that Vote Chor Amit Shah is celebrating an election victory - when the whole problem is how they are destroying our electoral system. Amit Shah is already speaking about 2029, clearly he also knows that Modi’s position is unstable,” Venugopal said in a post on X.