Maharashtra, India: The mother of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Wednesday alleged that her son had received a video threat coercing him to join the BJP or face severe consequences for his family.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel ahead of Abhijeet's return from New Delhi, his mother, Anita Dipke, claimed the intimidation forced the family to flee their home and take shelter at a relative's residence in the Konkan region for 16 days.
Abhijeet founded the CJP, a satirical online movement, on 16 May following remarks made during a Supreme Court hearing by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. It later evolved from an online parody into a nationwide youth-led protest movement that culminated in the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week.
Abhijeet was living in Boston, United States, when he founded the CJP. He later returned to India to transform the digital campaign into street protests.
"Abhijeet received threats but initially did not tell us. He mentioned a video and advised me not to watch it," his mother said.
"In the clip, he was warned that if he did not join the BJP, his parents would be dealt with sternly," she alleged.
She said Abhijeet later asked his parents to leave their home and stay elsewhere for a few days because of the alleged threat.
"Abhijeet told me that he himself was not afraid of such threats, but asked us to stay away from home because we are not used to such things. After that, we decided to move out. We went to our relative's residence in Konkan, where we stayed for 16 days," Anita Dipke said.
"He was worried because he was not with us at that time and also because his father suffers from low blood pressure," she added.
His father said that anyone involved in social work would have to face criticism.
"But there are people who applaud your work. People whose thinking is fixed indulge in criticism, while others reflect on events before reacting," he said.
Dipke's mother also described Abhijeet as being afraid of his father and recounted an old incident to illustrate her point.
"Once he brought a plumber home for some repair work. However, the plumber broke a pipe, which led to water flooding the entire house. That day, he was supposed to travel at around 5 p.m. But he packed some clothes and left at 12 p.m. to avoid facing his father's anger," she said.
"He got the fault fixed immediately, but I did not tell his father about the incident for the next six months," she added.