‘Cockroaches Just Getting Started’: CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka Dares Himanta After Assam Detention

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Ashutosh Ranka escalated his attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after being released from police custody, calling his detention “illegal” and vowing that the party’s campaign in the Northeast would intensify.

Ranka and more than 40 CJP volunteers were detained on Sunday from the residence of Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Kunki Chowdhury in Guwahati, where they had gathered for a scheduled meeting. The group was taken to the 10th Assam Police Battalion headquarters in Kahilipara.

After his release, Ranka claimed that the police had not told him why he and the others were being detained. “We asked them on what basis we were detained, but the police said they didn’t know, and that they had orders from the top,” Ranka said at a press conference.

He later took direct aim at Sarma in a post on X, writing: “Cockroaches of Assam are just getting started!”

‘Himanta Biswa Sarma Is Afraid’

Ranka alleged that the CJP meeting was intended to focus on issues including the state of schools, the rights of indigenous communities in Kaziranga and what he described as the redrawing of constituency boundaries to favour the ruling establishment ahead of the April election.

“(CM) Himanta Biswa Sarma is afraid of the cockroaches and used his police to threaten us,” Ranka alleged.

He said the CJP wanted better schools for children and employment opportunities for young people, adding that the group would continue raising these issues.

Invoking singer Zubeen Garg, Ranka said Assam had a history of people standing up for what they believed was right.

Ranka Says Movement Will Spread Across Northeast

Ranka also accused Sarma of repeating what he described as a mistake made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the CJP’s protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

“Sarma may have all the resources, but we are not afraid. We are fighting for our rights,” Ranka said, adding that the CJP movement would expand across the Northeast.

Earlier, a video posted on Ranka’s X account showed him inside a moving vehicle with police personnel. In the video, he alleged that the authorities were attempting to prevent the CJP from highlighting the condition of schools in Assam and other issues.

While being taken away, Ranka had also accused the chief minister of being “afraid of being exposed.”

He claimed the CJP wanted to highlight concerns over schools, alleged restrictions on the rights of people around Kaziranga and deaths linked to what he described as “man-made floods.” He also alleged that constituency boundaries had been redrawn to benefit the ruling party.

• Opposition Questions Police Action
• The detention drew criticism from opposition figures as well.

NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande claimed that Ranka and 41 others were detained from a private residence without being served a legal notice or informed about the sections under which they had been detained.

“It is nothing short of jungle raj under CM Sarma, who is afraid of any and all kinds of dissent,” Gawande alleged.

Ranka, meanwhile, said the CJP would not back down following the detention and indicated that the party would continue its activities in Assam and elsewhere in the Northeast.

The police action and the circumstances surrounding the detention have become another point of political confrontation between the CJP and the Assam government, with Ranka and his supporters maintaining that their detention was unjustified while continuing to press their allegations against the state administration.