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Snapshot of the day
October 20, 2026
Sidharth Bhatia, Anirudh SK, Kalrav Joshi
“Thank you for the free publicity,” Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke wrote on X, reacting to a BJP MLA-led committee which burnt a 30-foot cockroach effigy – symbolising a party founded by a young, educated Dalit leader committed to the Indian constitution – alongside those of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad at a Ramlila event in the national capital. The spectacle laid bare the Bharatiya Janata Party’s politics of hostility, even as calls for action against ‘termites’ have resurfaced within the Hindutva party, in an apparent reference against ‘anti-nationals.’
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said at the organisation’s annual ‘Vijayadashami’ rally that agitation rarely solves problems, a remark that is particularly notable given that the RSS did not officially participate in the 1942 Quit India Movement, one of India’s defining mass struggles against British rule. He also called for unity rooted in the “Hindu spirit” and cautioned against agitations that divide society.
The CJP has moved the Delhi High Court seeking an urgent hearing after a Special Executive Magistrate extended the judicial custody of its co-convenors, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, by two days on Monday, while Delhi Police transferred the trespassing case against them to the Crime Branch’s Inter State Cell for further investigation. “Saurav and Ashutosh must be released. Their liberty cannot be sacrificed at the altar of political vendetta. Justice delayed is justice denied,” the CJP said in a post on X on Tuesday.
The crackdown on peaceful protests and dissent by the Modi government in the national capital and by authorities elsewhere has been flagged by 24 experts linked with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCR). In a statement they said
