Because of differences in their objectives, but backed the group’s right to protest, former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamala i on Friday said his organisation, We The Leaders, does not support the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
Annamalai’s remarks come amid a row over the Delhi Police’s handling of CJP’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. “To arrest them for a violation and again to drag them in terms of how they spend their time in jail, that is only going to make the leaders of CJP stronger. I’m afraid of it. He also questioned the restrictions on protests at Jantar Mantar and raised concerns about the powers exercised by police officials in cases involving preventive detention. In a series of questions, Annamalai asked how long an assistant commissioner of police could continue to exercise powers as a special executive magistrate to decide whether a person should be placed under preventive detention. CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Rank a were detained by the Delhi Police and spent seven days in custody following an order by a special executive magistrate’s court. The former IPS officer also questioned whether any action had been taken over the alleged use of pellet guns by the Delhi Police or other alleged violations of standard operating procedures during protests linked to the NEET controversy.
The Delhi Police are doing a real disservice,” he said . A day after making these remarks, Annamalai said he had faced social media trolling over his comments.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai earlier this week, the former BJP leader criticised the police for detaining protesters, arguing that the action could strengthen the group’s leadership rather than weaken it.
