In an episode of Kunal Kamra’s show Khabr-e-Azam, the founder of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Abhijeet Dipke alleged that the Delhi police commissioner was replaced overnight just before the July 20 crackdown on protesters assembled at Jantar Mantar specifically to execute a brutal lathi charge during the ‘Sansad Chalo’ march alongside arresting environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk. Dipke alleged that the order primarily came from the Union home ministry.  

“The main culprit has to be Amit Shah. So many protests take place in Delhi by political parties, the state responds with water cannon guns. They could have used water cannon guns on us too but they chose pellet guns and nail-fitted lathi. A clear message to the students of the whole nation that such protests will be dealt this way. It was clearly a political order which could come merely from Amit Shah,” he said.

What happened on July 20, according to Dipke

Dipke alleges in the episode that the police commissioner who preceded the July 20 crackdown was replaced the night before because he was “not okay” with the orders coming from Shah to use force against the protesters. 

Police have used baton charges and tear gas against protesters marching towards parliament. A general diary entry at Parliament Street police station later confirmed the use of pellets by the Rapid Action Force, a fact Delhi Police had initially denied. 

Hospital records from Safdarjung confirmed at least one protester was injured by pellet fire. Over 100 CJP protesters were hospitalised, and more than 70 were detained.   

Abhijeet Dipke in Kunal Kamra’s show ‘Khabr-e-Azam’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video/Kunal Kamra.

When asked about his understanding of how he sees the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan and what forced Modi to act, Dipke said, “He removed Dharmendra Pradhan to save his own chair otherwise, why would he?”

He said that the July 20 crackdown backfired on the government and they miscalculated it. The expectation of the government, he alleged, was that the violence would break the CJP movement; instead, the day after the crackdown, Jantar Mantar recorded the largest crowd ever. 

The anger that had been concentrated in Delhi spread across the nation – Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Mizoram. The demand in the crowd then shifted from Pradhan’s resignation to the prime minister’s own. “It was that shift and pressure which compelled Modi to proceed with Pradhan’s resignation,” Dipke........

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