New Delhi, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Sunday urged its supporters to gather at the Jantar Mantar in large numbers ahead of its proposed 'Sansad Chalo' march on Monday, claiming that there could be a police crackdown on the protest.
Dipke also said that activist Sonam Wangchuk's indefinite hunger strike is continuing at the Safdarjung Hospital, where he was taken to forcefully by Delhi Police on Saturday, when his fast supporting CJP's protest over paper leaks and reforms in the education sector entered its third week.
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The proposed march to Parliament clashes with the opening day of Parliament's Monsoon Session, which will continue till August 13.
Crowds continued to pour into the Jantar Mantra through Saturday night and Sunday morning after Dipke appealed for a night vigil, saying Delhi Police could attempt to clear the protest site before the July 20 march to Parliament.
The CJP shared several photographs and videos showing a packed protest site, with Dipke posting an image captioned "Jantar Mantar at 7:30 AM".
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"As you saw, they took away Sonam sir forcefully. But his hunger strike is continuing in the hospital. Our protest is going on. Please come here in large numbers. Stay here through the night. If you don't come, they will try to end the protest," Dipke said in a video message.
Appealing for calm, he said the proposed march to Parliament would remain peaceful and urged supporters to follow the CJP's guidelines.
Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali Angmo, on Sunday alleged that she had lost faith in Safdarjung Hospital, claiming discrepancies between her husband's potassium levels communicated to the family and those reflected in an independent laboratory test.
She alleged that while the hospital informed the family that Wangchuk's potassium level had dropped to 2.9 and described it as "life-threatening", a blood sample tested in an independent laboratory about 10 hours later showed 3.5.
Angmo also said that despite repeated requests, the hospital refused to discharge Wangchuk or allow him to be shifted to a private hospital, and that she had moved the Delhi High Court seeking urgent permission to shift her husband to a hospital of the family's choice.
Sharing her post on X, Dipke said, "If anything happens to Sonam Sir, the Modi Govt will be responsible."
However, the Delhi High Court later refused to interfere with Wangchuk's treatment at the Safdarjung Hospital, stating that the government's removal of the fasting activist from the Jantar Mantar to a government hospital cannot be called arbitrary.
Justice Mini Pushkarna said no interim order to immediately transfer the activist was required at this stage.
In the special hearing held on a Sunday, Justice Pushkarna said that doctors at Safdarjung were closely monitoring Wangchuk, and it could not be said that any force was being used against him in violation of his bodily integrity.
The CJP also expressed apprehension about police action ahead of its proposed march, alleging that some people had infiltrated the protest site to create disturbance and urging its supporters to maintain peace.
Earlier, in a handwritten message shared through Angmo from the hospital, Wangchuk appealed to his supporters to make the proposed 'Sansad Chalo' march a "big success", describing it as India's "second freedom movement".
Calling for "freedom from injustice", which he linked to alleged paper leaks, and "freedom from fear", referring to his "illegal detention", Wangchuk urged people to join the march in large numbers.
Dipke began his own indefinite hunger strike on Saturday after Wangchuk was whisked away to the hospital, even as three All India Students' Association (AISA) activists - Neha, Manish and Aameen - continued their fast launched on June 28 despite their deteriorating health.
The protest site is also witnessing more supporters joining relay hunger strikes ahead of the proposed Parliament march.
The CJP protest at the Jantar Mantar began on June 20, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in NEET, reforms in the examination system, and justice for the affected students.
