New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has said Union home minister Amit Shah, whose ministry controls Delhi Police, was responsible for the firing on youth protesters during the ‘Chalo Sansad’ march. He also said that he saw pellet guns being fired at the protesting youth, contradicting a statement in the Lok Sabha of the Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office that no shots were fired at protesters.“The answer to this is very clear. Amit Shah ji key kehney pay hi goliyan chali hongi (Amit Shah is the one who would have ordered the firing),” he said. “Delhi Police reports to Amit Shah,” he added.“And if Amit Shah ji does not know [who ordered the firing] then it is his failure as a minister,” Dipke said.Dipke was responding to media questions about the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s statement in parliament on Wednesday (July 29) holding Amit Shah responsible for the firing incidents and other attacks by the Delhi Police on the protesting youth.He was also asked to respond to the BJP’s claim in parliament that no bullets were fired on protesters.“Pellet guns were fired – people have lost eyesight,” he said, adding, “I saw them fire pellet guns [on protesters in Delhi] with my own eyes. Patients are critical in hospital with [pellet] injuries.”In the first statement by a Union minister on the use of force on protesters last week, Jitendra Singh on Wednesday (July 29) said in the Lok Sabha that “utmost restraint” was exercised during the July 20 protests, no shots were fired at protesters and, therefore, there is no question of issuing any orders for firing, he said.“And what happened in Bihar,” Dipke told reporters. “Who fired AK-47 [on protesters] in Bihar? Whose government is in power there? You are shooting at children of the country with AK-47s. There was a time when terrorists used to face such weapons – it was used when parliament was under attack, it was used on [people like] Ajmal Kasab. Today AK-47 is used against students.”A widely circulated post on social media showed a Bihar police official – identified as Abhishek Patel – firing an AK-47 at students protesting against the NEET paper leak. He was later suspended. He was on duty as Siwan Superintendent of Police Puran Jha’s security.Dipke also said he “feels ashamed” that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with senior figures like the prime minister and home minister, are “threatening someone who could be their grandson”.Dipke also responded to queries about the BJP asking him to join the party. “Woh kya keh rahey hain, ki tum BJP me aa jao, tumharey liye achcha raheyga, tumharey parivar kay liye achcha raheyga. (They are saying, I should join the BJP, it will be good for me, good for my family),” he said.“I feel ashamed,” he added. “What is the point of your being such a powerful prime minister or [home minister] like Amit Shah if you have to threaten children,” Dipke said.Dipke’s parents recently alleged that they were forced to vacate their home in Maharashtra’s Pune to live with family in the Konkan region due to a threatening video Dipke received earlier. His mother Anita Dipke told a Marathi channel that this happened during the Jantar Mantar protests, as per a report in the Hindu.“Abhijeet received threats but initially did not tell us. He mentioned a video and advised me not to watch it,” she said, adding, “In the clip, he was warned that if he does not join the BJP, his parents would be dealt with sternly.”Abhijeet advised his parents to leave their home and go elsewhere after the threatening video. They did not return to their home in western Maharashtra for 16 days, Anita Dipke said.”He was worried as he was not with us at that time and also because his father suffers from low blood pressure,” she told the channel, the publication said.His father said being involved in social work leads to criticism, sometimes from those who fail to “deliberate on the happenings before reacting”.Dipke launched the anti-paper leaks protest at Jantar Mantar on May 17, demanding resignation from Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister who stepped down on July 25, the day the protest ended.This is not the first time an allegation of political pressure has surfaced against the BJP. In December 2024, the situation took a tragic turn as a couple in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore, whose business premises were raided by the Enforcement Directorate, died by suicide. They left a note alleging harassment by BJP as well as ED officials.“My father was being pressurised to make us join the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], but instead of giving in, he chose to end his life. The ED exerted sustained pressure on him to switch to the BJP,” the eldest son, Jatin Parmar, told Gandhi, according to the New Indian Express.Congress party had raised the issue at the time, saying the couple had been under tremendous pressure to join the BJP. Manoj Parmar, the deceased man, had famously gifted a piggy bank to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The BJP had dismissed the allegation as untrue.Dipke also asked yoga-guru-turned-consumer-conglomerate Ramdev to focus on fixing the problems in his products rather than commenting on youth protesters. “Even the Supreme Court has pointed out problems in his products,” he said.Responding to actor-politician and MP Kangana Ranaut’s allegations about the youth agitation, he said, “If fighting for democracy, students’ rights, education and such things is ‘spoiling [Indian] culture’, then so be it.”