CJP rules out political plunge, to chart roadmap at first core committee meeting

Founder Abhijit Dipke said the CJP would hold its first core committee meeting in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Wednesday. The meeting would deliberate upon the outfit’s future course, organisational expansion and the issues it plans to take up in the coming months

Mumbai: Laying all speculation to rest, Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday clarified that the outfit would not be transformed into a political party, but would continue to function as a people’s movement.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke (PTI)

“We have no intention of turning the organisation into a political outfit. We want it to continue as a people’s movement,” Dipke told reporters in Chhtrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Monday afternoon.

“The prevailing political environment has eroded public faith in the electoral process. Given the current circumstances, I see no reason to convert CJP into a political party.”

Explaining his stand further, Dipke said, “When votes are being deleted, people are losing faith in the electoral process, when they vote for someone in the morning and by the evening someone else gets elected, when they elect MLAs and MPs from one party and they switch their allegiance to another political party, and political parties are split with the help of the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), forming a political party is not the solution.”

While protests were also organised in other cities across the country, thousands of students and youngsters participated in a march to the Parliament in New Delhi on July 20, but were obstructed by police who allegedly used disproportionate force, including pellet guns, to disperse protestors. Five days later, on July 25, Pradhan resigned as education minister and the CJP called off its protest following assurances from the government.

Dipke said the CJP would hold its first core committee meeting in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Wednesday. The meeting would deliberate upon the outfit’s future course, organisational expansion and the issues it plans to take up in the coming months. “Those who helped in making the protest a success have been invited to attend the meeting,” he told reporters.

The CJP founder also responded to a demand by a Surat-based Right to Information (RTI) activist seeking an inquiry into his family’s finances. He said he was prepared to make public documents related to his educational loan, scholarship and academic qualifications.

“If Prime Minister Modi ji is willing to make his educational degree public, I am also ready to make public all my documents related to my educational loan and scholarship. I have my original degree, and I hope the Prime Minister’s degree is genuine as well. Let him make his documents public, and I will do the same,” he said in a riposte.