A policeman has floated a political party in Chhattisgarh to contest in the state Assembly polls slated later this year in which he plans to field its candidates in all 90 constituencies. The constable, identified as Ujjawal Diwan, is posted in the Dhamtari district and has led many protests of cops’ families to press for their various demands. Diwan said that his party would comprise suspended, expelled, and retired policemen while adding that several other cops would be a part of it after quitting their jobs.
Struggling to register as a new political party, Diwan and his associates decided to take over the ‘Azad Janata Party’, an already registered outfit. Diwan, who is the state president of AJP, said he has been fighting for the welfare of policemen and their families since 2018.
He said that he does not have faith in any political party and therefore has floated his own outfit aiming to provide justice to victims of crime in the state.
“Several cases were lodged against me and I even had to go to jail. Now I don’t have faith in any political party. Therefore, we decided to establish our own party and contest polls. Our aim is to ensure justice to every victimised person in the state,” he said. The constable said he tendered his resignation in 2021 but the department is yet to accept it. He can contest the election only after his resignation is accepted, he added.
Suspended police constable Sanjeev Mishra, who has been appointed as the state spokesperson of the party, said they applied for the registration of a new party but there were some objections over its name due to which they decided to take over AJP. They will field candidates in all 90 assembly constituencies in the upcoming assembly elections, he said.
Mishra said he was suspended last year and he submitted his resignation though authorities have not yet accepted it. Talking about the resources to contest the Assembly polls, Diwan, the party chief said that they will use crowdfunding to arrange for resources to run the party.
He said victimised police personnel like him, those who have been unilaterally expelled from service or have taken voluntary retirement have joined his party. He claimed to have the support of over 80,000 families of policemen and 4.5 lakh contractual employees working in state government departments.
The families of policemen from the lower ranks from different parts of the state have staged several protests in the last five years over their demands including higher salaries, weekly offs, government quarters for all jawans, and response allowance.
(With PTI inputs)
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