On Saturday, Abhijeet Dipke — founder of the Cockroach Janta Party — boarded a flight from Mumbai to Delhi, where he intended to join a protest at Jantar Mantar directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over entry restrictions in place across the capital.
Dipke described Prime Minister Modi as an authoritarian figure, adding that the country's young population was, in his view, a source of apprehension for the leader. He attributed the decision to shut down the Delhi Metro and close off roads to fear on the prime minister's part, though no evidence was presented to support that characterisation.
Speaking to reporters, Dipke questioned how someone apprehensive about the country's young people could justify holding the position of prime minister. The CJP also announced a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over what it described as irregularities in voter registration records.
Road closures, travel limitations, and a heightened security presence were put in place by authorities in the lead-up to the planned demonstration. Speaking to a television news outlet, Dipke questioned the deployment of security personnel and the transport restrictions imposed before the event, and separately asked whether the government's handling of the situation treated its own citizens as opponents — a question he directed at Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
Dipke contended that Modi harboured concern about losing electoral support from the public. Defending the planned gathering, the CJP founder noted that the right to protest is constitutionally guaranteed, invoking Article 19 as the basis for peaceful assembly and stating that the demonstration would proceed within those democratic protections.
Dipke also stated that any decision by authorities to detain or arrest him upon his arrival at Delhi airport was one he was prepared to accept, expressing no resistance to either outcome. He added that the statement amounted to an open invitation to apply the UAPA or the NSA, and that he had no objection to either course of action.
Dipke pledged to continue pursuing free and fair elections. Authorities, meanwhile, had positioned more than 40,000 Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces personnel across Delhi to limit gatherings at Jantar Mantar.
A deployment of more than 15,000 officers from Delhi Police was announced for crowd and security management, with an additional contingent of roughly 26,000 personnel from central forces also positioned across the city. Twenty zones were drawn across the New Delhi district, with a deputy commissioner of police placed in charge of each one.
Protective barriers were erected across 37 mapped points throughout the area. Barricades placed along the roads leading into the Jantar Mantar area cut off entry for the general public and members of the press alike.
Authorities issued notices prohibiting assemblies and processions that lacked official sanction, citing Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reduced operational stations from 57 to 45, with closures of entry and exit points running from 9 pm Friday into Saturday.
Mobile internet access within a four-kilometre zone around the Janpath-Kartavya Path crossing was suspended under a Delhi Police directive, with the blackout running from 10 pm Friday through to 10 pm the following evening. Thirty points across central Delhi saw route changes put in place, with people urged to stay off the roads unless travel was necessary.
Rail services into New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations faced cancellations on Saturday, with mail and express trains scheduled between 4 am and 2 pm pulled from the timetable in response to road congestion that authorities had anticipated in advance. Officers also conducted inquiries across hotels, guest houses, hostels, and other short-term lodging, focusing on bookings between 8 and 11 October, the size of visiting parties, and the stated purposes behind each trip to the city.