Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 28: Even as actor-politician and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut’s hate comments on the student protesters demanding the then union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation has kicked up a massive row, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Tuesday issued a fresh warning of resuming “massive peaceful protests” accusing the police of “harassment of students.”
Ms Ranaut in her social media post continued the tirade against those who took part in CJP-led protests, calling Gen Z as “generation gutter” and their videos from the agitation “puke inducing.”
The CJP founder leader Abhijeet Dipke accusing the police of “harassment” of students on Tuesday said “If the harassment of students at the hands of the police continues, the Cockroach Janta Party will respond with a massive peaceful protest soon. The Govt must stop targeting and witch-hunting students,” Dipke wrote on social media.
The CJP said the Supreme Court had allowed the police to proceed with existing FIRs and expressed apprehension that the government would “weaponise” this against protesters and harass them. Hearing a batch of petitions against the alleged use of excessive force against students who were staging protests against paper leaks at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and other places, a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant directed that no coercive action should be taken against peaceful protesters and ordered the release of those detained who had no prior criminal record.
There was also, however, a caveat. “The NCT of Delhi and other States may proceed with the investigation of the FIRs registered; however, no coercive measures shall be taken against the protesting students. Such protection, nonetheless, shall not be extended to the persons with criminal antecedents,” the bench said.
In a post on X on Tuesday evening, CJP Spokesperson Saurav Das said the order “must ring alarm bells across the country.” “This direction stands in direct contradiction to the solemn assurance and guarantee extended by the Government of India to the youth of this nation on 25 July 2026, namely, that the FIRs would be withdrawn and that no protester would be directly or indirectly targeted for participating in the peaceful movement. It was on the strength of that solemn assurance, and in complete good faith, that the Cockroach Janta Party called off its nationwide protest,” Das wrote.
“We now have a credible apprehension that the Government of India and BJP-ruled states may seek to use and weaponise this order of the Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to continue FIRs against individual protesters and subject them to great harassment. This was precisely our concern from day one: that courts could be used, directly or indirectly, to achieve political ends by targeting peaceful dissent,” he added.
Das said it was troubling that the government’s lawyers did not oppose the order despite being aware of the assurances given to the CJP and the protesters. Arguing that a public assurance cannot be diluted in a “surreptitious” manner, the spokesperson pointed out that the Centre and BJP/NDA-ruled state governments could withdraw the FIRs and decide not to proceed against peaceful protesters.
Das then repeated a threat the CJP had also made on Monday. “The deadline for the Government of India to honour its guarantees expires today. We once again call upon it to fulfil every commitment it made: withdraw the FIRs, ensure that no protester is subjected to future punitive action, and honour both the letter and the spirit of the assurance that brought an end to the protest,” he said.
“Failing this, and as previously declared, the Cockroach Janta Party will have no option but to resume its nationwide protest to protect the students and young protesters who stood up not for themselves alone, but for the future of this nation. A government that breaks its word cannot expect the youth to remain silent. If the guarantees are dishonoured, the streets of India will once again become the voice of its young,” he warned.
On Monday, Das’ CJP colleague and fellow spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka had said there was a “complete breach” of the agreement and hundreds of protesters had been arrested. “We demand that all the FIRs against the protesters be immediately withdrawn, students be released and no future FIRs be filed (in line with our agreement) by Delhi police / Central investigative agencies / Police in BJP-allied states, FAILING WHICH WE WILL BE FORCED TO SIT ON PROTEST AGAIN,” he had said.
The CJP began sustained protests against paper leaks at Jantar Mantar on June 20, and one of the protesters’ main demands was the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. They staged a ‘Parliament March’ on July 20, which saw protesters being lathicharged, tear-gassed and attacked with pellet guns. Over 118 police personnel, some of whom were attacked by protesters, were also injured.
After two rounds of talks between the Centre and the CJP, Pradhan stepped down on Saturday. The CJP called off its protest hours later, after being assured that no action would be taken against peaceful protesters and that the families of students who died by suicide after the NEET paper leak would be compensated.
Earlier in the day, CJP food volunteer Junaid moved the Supreme Court alleging that he was illegally detained, adding that he was harassed by police and his family was subjected to coercive police action. Junaid hogged the limelight for helping the protesters with the food during the Jantar Mantar protests. Several videos circulated online of police action on protesters, including girls, as voices over the behaviour of the cops raised eyebrows. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari had hit out at the police for its action on the students. “Innocent students were beaten up, batons were charged, young girls were molested,” Tiwari said in Parliament.
Hitting out at the government over the non-withdrawal of the FIRs on the students. CJP spokesperson Ranka hit out at the government over the “breach of agreement” over not taking legal action against the protesters in the Jantar Mantar protest.
“Dear JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh ji, we are observing a complete breach of the agreement regarding no police action against the protestors. Hundreds of students have been arrested in Bihar and Bengal, and hundreds are being surveilled/harrassed in Delhi and other states. Multiple reports are emerging in Delhi around detention of volunteers supporting protestors with logistics,” Ranka wrote in a social media post.
Meanwhile, the Bollywood actor Ranaut continued to spread venom against the Gen Z protesters describing videos of protestors at Jantar Mantar a display of “filth, garbage and ugliness.”
“Never in my life I have seen so much ugliness in one place, these reels from GenZ protests are puke inducing, the way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life I have seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at ones, ewwww who is birthing and raising them?” Ms Ranaut said.
“India is a place of diversely beautiful people, draped in elegance and rooted in cultural sophistication, you call yourself cockroaches and look/ behave like them as well there is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness. I am scarred from these reels, need some healing, digital detox,” she added.
In another post, the actor took aim at young women participating in the protests, saying their behaviour during the agitation was “most appalling.” “Women who are truly independent they make rebellious choices, bold opinions, unconventional career moves and they take accountability for their actions. They have to cos they are on their own. They don’t do this at the cost of their parents or families,” she added. “Here is a new generation of so called westernised Indian women. I call them Generation gutter,” she said.
Ms Ranaut said some of the women protestors were “so ugly and corrupt that they can’t be home makers either.” “They proudly flaunt their freedom to have drugs, drinks or endless body counts and shamelessly live off their parents’ earnings and constantly fight to live independent lives without actually being independent. “Gentle reminder independent life needs to be earned. If you try to live independently without accountability, you are just a distorted entity, gutter chaap,” she added.
In her latest post on Tuesday, Ms Ranaut defended those who have confronted protesters over their social media content, saying criticism and backlash were inevitable consequences of their actions.
“Protesters who are getting beaten and abused on the roads by ordinary people because of their filthy and abusive reels must understand that if you speak, you also have to be prepared to listen. If you damage public property, then the public will damage you too.
“If you have a problem with the country and its leadership and have publicly hurled filthy abuses at them, then now listen to those who love this country and brought this government to power through their votes. Because they also have the right to speak,” she wrote.
