00:00The Kokruj Janata Party is back and they are saying that if Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign by this weekend,
00:06they are starting an agitation from October 2nd Gandhi Jainty.
00:10Ashutosh Ranka, co-convener CJP now joins me.
00:13Ashutosh Ranka, is this in some way Kokruj Janata Party 2.0?
00:19You got Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, now you want to target Gyanesh Kumar.
00:23Are you serious? Do you really believe that Gyanesh Kumar can step down a constitutional body
00:27because the CJP wants him out?
00:32First of all, Razdeep, let me just say that it's good to see you in a different look.
00:37I like the kurta. I just wanted to point that out first.
00:40Now, as far as Gyanesh Kumar is concerned, it's not about what CJP wants.
00:45It's about what the people of this country want.
00:47And let me just give you a very concrete example of what I mean by that.
00:51I have been in remote tribal areas of Rajasthan for almost a week now.
00:55And I went to a village called Pahara in Pratapgarh, which doesn't have a phone network 80 years after independence.
01:02And this is like a few kilometers away from Udaipur.
01:04I was visiting schools there. Schools are in horrible condition.
01:08And then people there are saying that, bro, this school will be fine.
01:11Let's do it. But our vote is kept on.
01:14You have to talk about that.
01:17We are asking the government. We don't like the government. We don't need to change the government.
01:21We are kept on. Our vote is kept on.
01:23So, people on the ground feel that their elections are being stolen.
01:28People on the ground know that the elections are compromised.
01:32It's not a playing, even playing field and let alone it being an unfair game.
01:36It is a rigged game. It is a fixed match.
01:39It's not that if the pitch is up and up and up, you have to play a lot of batsmen
01:41extra carefully.
01:43Pitch empire has fixed the decision.
01:48No, so you are telling me, you are telling me that from school Sudaro, you are going to go to
01:55EC Badlo or EC Sudaro.
01:57You are going to move away from your school Sudaro agitation to EC Badlo.
02:02And you are telling me the people in a village in Udaipur or in Rajasthan are echoing this feeling
02:08that they actually believe that there is rigging going on in the election commission.
02:13They've all voted in recent elections.
02:17Absolutely, absolutely.
02:18People on the ground, there is a very strong sentiment on the ground right now that the elections are compromised.
02:24And as far as the school Thikaro campaign is concerned, as I said, the campaign will continue.
02:30We have been visiting schools, we'll continue visiting schools.
02:33But none of these campaigns matter if the political change is simply not possible.
02:39What if tomorrow the people of Rajasthan decide that, you know, this government is not ready to fix the schools,
02:44we'll vote them out.
02:45But it doesn't matter.
02:46The elections are compromised.
02:48The playing field is rigged.
02:50So yes, at this point in time, our democracy is at stake.
02:55And we have to protect it at all costs.
02:58Are you all going to do your own agitation as a result?
03:01You've got the Congress Party agitating, calling for Gyanesh Kumar to go.
03:04You've got other parties to do now.
03:05Now, Kaukruj Janta Party wants to start Jantar Mantra 2.0.
03:10So, see, it's not about our own agitation or, you know, their own agitation.
03:15Everyone needs to speak in one direction.
03:18And I'm glad that, you know, not just Congress, but other political parties, I was following what happened in Jantar
03:24Mantra today as well.
03:26Everyone should speak in one direction and everyone should speak in one voice.
03:30Will you join hands?
03:31Are you willing to join hands?
03:32No, are you willing to join hands?
03:34Are you willing as a newbie for political force, if I may call you that, to join hands with the
03:39older parties like the Congress if they come to you?
03:42I think working together doesn't always mean that everyone is on the same platform and then they are doing the
03:48same.
03:49If at this point today, Congress is talking about Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, CJP is talking about Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, all
03:56the different civil society organizations are talking about his resignation, that means we are already, you know, speaking in one
04:03direction.
04:04In fact, not just these organizations, not just political pressure groups like ours, there is a strong sentiment on the
04:11ground that people want him gone, people want this election commission to be fixed structurally, people want the elections to
04:18be free and fair.
04:19You're telling me in a remote village in Rajasthan, this is the top issue that Gyanesh Kumar should go?
04:26Are you really telling me that?
04:32What I'm saying, Razdeep, is that people across the country, not just the ones living in cities who can speak
04:39English, who understand the nitty-gritties and technicalities of how election commission functions, people living in far-off villages also
04:48feel that the elections have been rigged, that their votes are, that a lot of people across the country are
04:55being denied the right to vote.
04:56People feel that vote-chori are being denied the right to vote, BJP says, BJP says, Narendra Modi is an
05:05extremely popular leader, you have to accept this popularity, opposition parties are unwilling to accept the popularity of the leader,
05:11hence they claim there is vote-chori.
05:16I don't know why BJP is defending the election commission.
05:22At least technically, I mean, we all know how election commission has been operating, but at least on the paper,
05:29election commission is supposed to be an independent statutory body.
05:33So why is the chief election commissioner not coming and giving a press conference clarifying what the Indian Express report
05:39said?
05:39Why are the other two election commissioners not coming out and denying what the Indian Express report says?
05:46I have not heard any form of, you know, disagreement with the dissent that was talked about in that investigation.
05:52But yes, I have definitely seen Samit Patra coming on television, doing press conferences.
05:57I have seen Sudhan Chutrivedi.
06:01Because you are linking Gyanesh Kumar to the BJP.
06:06You are saying Gyanesh Kumar is only a pawn in the hands of the real puppeteers and the BJP.
06:12Naturally, they will come out to defend him.
06:14And they are absolutely confirming that relationship.
06:19They are absolutely confirming that relationship.
06:22Gyanesh Kumar is a question.
06:24Stifa Gyanesh Kumar wants to defend Gyanesh Kumar.
06:33So can I get in conclusion, are you telling me October 2nd, if Gyanesh Kumar is not out of office,
06:38we are going to see Jantar Mantar 2.0?
06:43Absolutely.
06:44Absolutely.
06:45We will take it to the streets.
06:46We will make this a national movement.
06:48People across the city, across the country have to be mobilized.
06:52They are already charged.
06:54This is about saving and protecting our democracy.
06:56This is about protecting our fundamental right, about our constitutional right to vote.
07:01Who the hell is Gyanesh Kumar to deny us that right?
07:0413 crore citizens in this country have been removed from the voter list.
07:09The only data point that we have about how these appeals fared out in tribunal is that of Bengal.
07:1490% of those voters who were deleted got back on that list.
07:19Extrapoliting that means that 12 crore voters, genuine voters have probably been denied the right to vote.
07:24There can be nothing more dangerous than this in a functioning democracy.
07:28Let me leave it there.
07:30Ashutosh Ranka joining me there, saying that they will start an agitation to remove Gyanesh Kumar if he doesn't step
07:37down by the weekend.
07:37Good to have you also on the show.
