A computer science graduate from Maharashtra, Ajinkya Shinde quit a high-paying job in the information technology sector to join politics after being drawn to the anti-corruption movement led by Arvind Kejriwal. Now, as the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) national organisation in-charge, he is set to lead the party’s protests in Delhi following the detention of its top leadership on Saturday.
Shinde, a resident of Alibaug, was named by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke to lead the movement after Dipke and senior party colleagues Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by police shortly after their flight from Mumbai landed at Delhi airport around 10.20 am on October 10.
Shinde began his political journey with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He campaigned for the party during the 2016 Goa Assembly elections and later worked for it in Maharashtra. Before entering politics, he had spent several years working for a Pune-based IT company.
He has been associated with the CJP since its formation and participated in protests in Delhi in June and July over the NEET examination paper leak. He subsequently became part of the party’s core team and took charge as its national organisation in-charge.
‘Beginning of a new struggle’
In a video message following the detention of the CJP’s top leadership, Shinde accused the Narendra Modi-led government of attempting to prevent people from joining the party’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“As you may know, our three CJP leaders were detained right at Delhi Airport by the dictatorial Modi-Shah government. This dictatorial government has once again become afraid of the unity of the people of this country,” he said.
Shinde also alleged that restrictions on transport services and the detention of people travelling to the protest venue were aimed at preventing a large turnout.
“The fear displayed by Modi and Shah shows that we have already won half the battle. And this is the beginning of a new struggle,” he said.
In a short mobile-phone video, Dipke said that he, Das and Ranka had been arrested and announced that Shinde would lead the movement from then on.
The video message was released while Dipke was reportedly in detention.
The party had called for a protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday against Kumar and the SIR exercise. Delhi Police said prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita had been imposed in central Delhi and that permission had not been granted for protests in the area.
More than 2,000 people were reportedly detained in central Delhi during the day while attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar.
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