‘Himanta Sarma is scared’: CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka, his team detained in Guwahati

Ashutosh Ranka and his team detained

GUWAHATI: Assam Police on Sunday detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and several other top leaders and activists of the organisation in Guwahati, shortly before the organisation’s first regional volunteers’ meeting was scheduled to start near the Assam Secretariat.CJP leaders said its top leadership, including Ashutosh Ranka, Ankit Bhardwaj and Prem Aakash, along with Assam-based volunteers, were detained and moved to a police facility in Guwahati.“Assam Police have detained the CJP’s senior leadership, including Ashutosh Ranka, Prem Aakash and me, along with several of our Assam volunteers. We have been taken to a police facility in Guwahati,” Bhardwaj told TOI.Police had blocked access to the venue since morning, preventing volunteers from reaching the meeting site at a hilltop. The organisation had planned to bring together around 200-300 volunteers from across the region.“They stopped us from holding a peaceful volunteers’ meeting and are now taking us away from the venue against our will,” a CJP leader said while being taken away in a police bus.The detentions came a day after the leadership of Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal met CJP leaders, including Ranka, in Guwahati. The meeting discussed a range of issues, including the recent floods in Assam, and the CJP’s plans for expanding its activities in the state.CJP has in recent days held discussions with prominent citizens as well as smaller regional political groups that have maintained an anti-BJP position in Assam.Ranka, speaking to reporters, alleged that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was concerned that the team’s campaign on schools would draw attention to their condition in the state.“Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared that if we show the reality of schools in Assam, the country will come to know about their condition. Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared because of how the rights of our people are being taken away in Kaziranga, and how land, forests and water are being taken away and given to corporates,” he told reporters.