Guwahati: Hours after being detained by Assam Police on Sunday, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and other activists began an indefinite hunger strike inside a Guwahati police campus, demanding their release.
The CJP alleged that police detained Ranka and other members without citing any reason. According to reports, police detained Ranka and nearly 40 volunteers from a private residence.
“Assam Police detained Ashutosh Ranka and the CJP team earlier today. They’ve still not given us any reason for the detention, nor are they willing to release them. Hence, our team has started a hunger strike against this arbitrary detention and denial of their basic rights.
“We won’t be silenced, and we’ll keep fighting!” the CJP said in a post on X.
IMPORTANT UPDATE 🚨
— Cockroach Janta Party - CJP (@Cockroachisback) September 27, 2026
Assam Police detained @AshutoshRanka and the CJP team earlier today.
They’ve still not given us any reason for the detention, nor are they willing to release them.
Hence, our team has started a hunger strike against this arbitrary detention and denial of… https://t.co/9mcCLkIEYW
NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande told reporters that a mass protest would be held in Assam on Monday against the detention of Ranka and others. He said CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke would also participate in the protest in Guwahati.
Ranka was detained when he was scheduled to meet CJP volunteers at the residence of Opposition Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Kunki Chowdhury in the Dispur area near the state secretariat. The detention took place ahead of a planned regional volunteers’ meeting.
A video uploaded on Ranka’s X account showed him sitting in a moving vehicle with police personnel. In the video, he alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had ordered his detention because he was “afraid” of the people of Assam, as the CJP wanted to “expose” the condition of schools in the state.
Talking to reporters while being taken away by police personnel, Ranka alleged that the action showed that the chief minister was “afraid of being exposed”.
“He (Sarma) is scared that if we show the schools here, the country will know the reality. He is afraid that people will know how their rights were being snatched in Kaziranga for the benefit of corporates. Also, man-made floods have taken scores of lives.
“But, we are not afraid of him. We know that he won the assembly election by redrawing boundaries of constituencies,” Ranka alleged.
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Assam Congress President and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, on Sunday condemned the detention of CJP activists, calling it “completely unacceptable, unjustified, and illegal”.
“Why is the BJP so scared of the youth? Is the government terrified because the youth have rejected the BJP’s divisive politics of Hindu-Muslim polarisation?” he asked.
Meanwhile, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke declared that if Ranka and the other activists were not released, he would travel to Assam with more party members and challenged the chief minister to arrest them all.
Addressing a press conference later, NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande alleged that police detained the CJP leader and volunteers when they wanted to highlight social issues, including the condition of schools, evictions in Kaziranga, the arrest of activists and alleged irregularities in the drawing of electoral boundaries.
“This is a pattern in Assam, happening here for too long. Pranab Doley gets picked up when he gets bail, and the NSA is invoked against him,” Gawande said, referring to the activist who has been involved in protests in Kaziranga over the rights of indigenous people.
“This is another attempt to intimidate civil society and activists in Assam to create a police state,” he added.
