Abhijeet Dipke said Indian student protesters should follow Gandhi’s peaceful path, not Bangladesh or Nepal. He used the interview to press for NEET relief, recruitment reforms and higher priority for education.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has rejected comparisons between his group’s recent student protest in Delhi and the upheavals in Bangladesh and Nepal, saying Indian students should draw inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi instead.
In an interview to PTI, Dipke defended the protest over alleged exam irregularities and insisted that the demonstrators had followed the Constitution and maintained peace despite police action.
“Protests in Bangladesh, Nepal are being used to defame us; we are different,” Dipke said.
“We showed during the recent protest in Delhi that we were following the Constitution and holding our demonstration peacefully. Parallels to the protests in Bangladesh and Nepal are being used to defame us,” he added.
Rejecting remarks by exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen linking the Delhi protest to the 2024 agitation in Bangladesh that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, Dipke said India did not need to look outside for models of protest.
“We don’t need to look at Bangladesh or Nepal when we have Mahatma Gandhi from whom the world takes inspiration to protest,” he said.
‘STUDENTS DISPLAYED RESTRAINT’
Dipke said some people may have drawn parallels with protests in Bangladesh and Nepal because of the police action during the Delhi demonstration.
“The students in India were not violent or aggressive. They got their heads, arms and legs broken but displayed restraint and sat peacefully at Jantar Mantar,” he said.
He also argued that education should become a central issue in electoral politics.
“If you don’t make education the main agenda in election, it means you are not thinking about the future. Education is an investment for the future of the country,” Dipke said.
DEMAND FOR NEET VICTIMS’ COMPENSATION
Dipke criticised the government over what he described as a delay in compensation to families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide.
“They have money to topple government overnight. You can buy MPs and MLAs by spending hundreds of crores of rupees, but when it comes to the NEET victims and their kin, they look at the norms,” he said.
He warned that CJP could launch another agitation if its demands were not addressed.
“The government should meet our demands as soon as possible, or else we will launch another agitation,” he said.
Dipke also urged Gen Z protesters to maintain restraint and not imitate the conduct of politicians.
He said young protesters should “not reach the level of BJP leaders” who, according to him, abuse even in Parliament and at public rallies.
“There is some difference between us and the goons and that difference should always be there,” he said.
SUPPORT FOR JHARKHAND STUDENTS
Dipke extended CJP’s support to students protesting in Jharkhand over alleged irregularities in the state public service examination and other recruitment tests.
He backed their demand for a CBI probe and reforms in recruitment agencies, saying the movement was against the system rather than any political party.
“Their fight is not against any political party but against the system. We stand with their demands. If they want a CBI probe, we are going to support them in pursuing that,” he said.
He said CJP would support student movements over education and recruitment issues irrespective of which party was in power.
“Wherever agitations will happen for education and wherever students come forward to demand their rights, we are going to stand with them, irrespective of the ruling party in that state,” Dipke said.
“The rules are the same as our fight is not against any political party. It is against the system that has let down the students of the country,” he added.
OPPOSITION LEADERS’ SUPPORT
Asked about opposition leaders who visited Jantar Mantar to support the student protest, Dipke said they did not use the platform for political promotion.
“Everyone was sensitive towards the students’ agitation. They were very sensitive towards the cause and the students. When they were on the stage at Jantar Mantar, none of these leaders spoke about their political party, but said they were there to support the students,” he said.
CJP PLANS EXPANSION
Dipke said CJP would discuss its future roadmap at a meeting at his residence in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on August 5.
Around 10 to 15 people are expected to attend the meeting, with other volunteers also expected to play a role in expanding the movement.
“The expansion of CJP will take place. Our responsibility has increased after the success of the recent protest. People’s expectations about CJP have also gone up. In the meeting on Wednesday, we will discuss our future roadmap,” Dipke said.
‘EDUCATION MUST GET MAXIMUM SPENDING’
Dipke also criticised what he described as the gap between India’s education system and those in other countries, particularly in infrastructure and practical learning.
“The biggest difference is that foreign countries have a good infrastructure when it comes to education,” he said.
Drawing on his own experience in the US, Dipke said courses there were more practical and less theoretical, and argued that India needed to create greater scope for practical learning.
