Police vs Police? CJP Protests Enter a New Phase of Street Confrontations
Police vs Police? CJP Protests Enter New Phase as Congress Moves Against Delhi Cops (Image video grab)
By MANISH ANAND
The release of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has not ended the confrontation over youth protests in Delhi. With two CJP activists in Tihar Jail, Congress pursuing Zero FIRs against police personnel and rival groups mobilising at Connaught Place, the agitation appears to be entering a new phase.
New Delhi, October 17, 2026 — Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was released from the police detention on Saturday. A day after the CJP gave a call for ‘Tiranga Fahra Do’ campaign at Connaught Place’s Central Park, indications point to a new phase of confrontations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government seems to have zeroed in on the strategy to treat the youth protests as a law-and-order issue. The Opposition also seems girding up with counter police actions, wherein Zero FIR is the tool.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has asked the party’s Kerala and Rajasthan units to lodge Zero FIRs against Delhi Police personnel who unleashed violence against youth Congress activists. This marks a new escalation where the Congress seeks to assert a deterrent on Delhi Police from resorting to intimidating and violent measures against protestors.
CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka and Sourabh Daas continue to be lodged in the Tihar Jail where they are serving the five-day judicial remand. They face the charge of flouting the written oath on which they were released earlier.
The pattern signals the government employing the strategy to remove the prominent protest faces from thick of the actions. This strategy banks on premise that the absence of the protest leadership will leave the crowds on their own, diluting the intensity of the agitation against the Modi government.
As a part of this strategy, intelligence sleuths are tracking the movement of protest leaders, with aims to detain as soon as they hit the street. While detaining, such protest leaders will be taken out of the scene for the whole day and may be longer.
In this backdrop, the Delhi Police personnel were able to swiftly detain AISA president Neha Bora as soon as she appeared to stage a flash protest at Mandi House in New Delhi.
With Jantar Mantar barricaded and practically out of bounds, the police assess that the protestors will seek to stage flash protests at alternative venues within the New Delhi district.
While the Congress strategy to put pressure on the Delhi Police by going for Zero FIR against cops is yet to show impact, the government seems determined to not step back from using the force against agitation participants.
There seems a clear new pattern of confrontation on the street. Journalist Richa Prasar is pressing for an FIR against Rahul Gandhi. A Delhi police official has pressed charges under SC and ST against a protest activist. At the same time, Modi supporters came out in a strong number at CP’s Central Park to stage a counter agitation against the CJP.
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