Chennai, Oct 22:
Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has criticised the BJP over its handling of protests by the group referred to by him as the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), accusing the party of giving the organisation unnecessary publicity while raising questions about the treatment of protesters in Delhi.
In a social media post, Annamalai said people who questioned alleged violations of due process in a democracy should not automatically be branded as anti-national or foreign agents. He argued that the right to protest and question the authorities must be protected even when one disagrees with a group’s methods or political positions.
Annamalai said he did not agree with several of the CJP’s protest strategies and considered some of its approaches misguided. However, he maintained that the group had the right to express its views and protest over issues it considered important.
He raised five questions concerning the handling of the protests in Delhi. These included the removal of Jantar Mantar as a protest venue, the role of a police officer exercising the powers of a Special Executive Magistrate in preventive proceedings, the circumstances surrounding a delay in a bail hearing, the rejection of eight bail sureties and whether action had been taken over alleged police excesses during protests related to the NEET examination.
Annamalai also questioned whether the same standards had been applied to BJP supporters during earlier Congress and Aam Aadmi Party governments in Delhi. He argued that the authorities should respond to specific questions on procedure rather than diverting the debate through political allegations.
He further claimed that the BJP was giving the CJP free publicity by drawing national attention to the group. Annamalai questioned whether the party was genuinely opposed to the organisation or was inadvertently helping it gain prominence and potentially divide opposition votes.
Reiterating that he had left the BJP on June 5, 2026, Annamalai said he wanted the public debate to focus on democratic rights, due process and accountability. He also criticised the tendency to portray every protest against the Union government as being funded by foreign interests or as an anti-national activity.
His remarks come amid a wider political debate over protests, preventive detention and the treatment of demonstrators in the national capital. The questions raised by Annamalai reflect his criticism of the BJP’s approach; the allegations concerning the police and the handling of the protests remain matters for the relevant authorities to address.