Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
‘SIR radd karo‘ (withdraw SIR), ‘Gyanesh Kumar gaddi choro‘ slogans rent the air at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) kicked off its mega protest against the Chief Election Commissioner on Thursday. Actor-activist Prakash Raj and popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee joined the CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke as the outfit held a “people’s tribunal” over alleged irregularities in the revision of voter lists. It will be followed by a ‘chappal protest’.
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The crowd had begun to swell from Thursday morning as several activists and civil society organisations thronged Bengaluru’s Freedom Park. At around 1 pm, CJP leaders Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka arrived at the venue and jointly raised hands with Rathee and Prakash Raj on stage as the crowd raised “vote chor, vote chor” slogans.
Addressing the gathering, the Singham actor asserted that the Election Commission (ECI) had “insulted the entire country” through the SIR exercise.
“In this country, people used to decide who forms the government, but with SIR, the government is deciding who will vote,” Raj said.
Demanding scrapping of the SIR exercise, which has resulted in exclusion of over 13 crore people across 20 states and UTs, Raj underlined that the agitation was to restore the rights of the citizens.
“The aim of this protest is not to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar alone. If he goes, another will replace him. The aim is to scrap the SIR,” Raj said.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
