Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke said that the comparisons of the Jantar Mantar protest with the uprisings held in Nepal and Bangladesh were being done to “defame” the satirical outfit.
“We are different,” Dipke said.
He was responding to the remarks made by exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on the CJP protest. She said on Sunday that while she did not follow the CJP protest in India, a clip of it reminded her of the 2024 student uprising in Bangladesh which led to the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Also read: ‘Bangladesh uprising that was taken over by Jihadis’: What CJP protest reminded Taslima Nasreen of
“It was like that. That student movement in Bangladesh fooled us. Because we thought the students wanted to abolish the quota system. Sheikh Hasina had also agreed to their demands, but ultimately the government fell. Later, we found that jihadis (Islamic fundamentalists) were behind that movement. The fallout has not been good for Bangladesh. Jihadis have taken over power there,” Nasreen had said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Dipke said that the responsibility of the Cockroach Janta Party, which started as a satirical political outfit, has increased after leading nationwide student protests and that the team of the outfit will be expanded soon.
Dipke warns of another sit-in
The CJP founder on Monday warned the Centre that there could be another sit-in if the demands of the party are not met. He said that the Centre has not yet paid ₹1 crore compensation to the families of the students who died by suicide due to NEET-UG paper leak, which was one of core demands of the CJP during the protest.
“We want the government to do this (fulfil the demands agreed upon); otherwise, we will have to sit in protest again,” Dipke told news agency ANI.
“We had also demanded ₹1 crore each as compensation to the families (of NEET aspirants who died allegedly by suicide). None of the families has received the compensation from the government. I have got to know that the govt has said that it will have to look into the rules & norms for this. When you have to buy MPs/MLAs, you spend crores of rupees, but to give compensation, you need to first check the rules. It means their intention is not right,” Dipke added.
Apart from the compensation demand, the two other demands of the CJP were resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister and no FIRs against protesters.
Also read: No more protests at Jantar Mantar? Supreme Court to hear plea against suitability of Delhi site
The 37-day protest at Jantar Mantar was called off after Pradhan resigned and the Centre agreed to the othe demands of the CJP as well.
‘Don’t support Pralhad Joshi’s appointment’
Dipke also said that while their demand of the resignation of education minister was met, he did not support the appointment of Pralhad Joshi in place of him.
“Our demand was the resignation of the Education Minister, and it was met. But in place of him (Dharmendra Pradhan), who was made the Education Minister? It was Pralhad Joshi. He was seen garlanding the rapists of Bilkis Bano. Imagine how the school-going girls will feel on seeing such things. So, we do not support this,” the CJP founder said.
(With inputs from PTI/ANI)
