Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka gave his first reaction to the alleged assault on himself and some other members of the outfit in Rajasthan's Jaipur on Friday. Issuing a statement on the issue, Ranka urged people not to blame local villagers and alleged that people were sent from outside to "incite violence".
"Requesting media to not blame the villagers for today’s incident. People were sent from outside to incite violence. It was the villagers who had requested us to come and inspect the school," he wrote, further alleging that he has been informed that a local BJP counsellor was seen "distributing money to some goons".
What happened in Jaipur today?
A team of the CJP, which is spearheading a campaign aiming to bring reforms to schools, was near Rampura Kanwarpura village in Rajasthan this morning on their way to inspect a government school in Bagru Assembly constituency.
Deep Dive
What prompted Ashutosh Ranka and the CJP team to visit the government school in Jaipur?
Why did Ashutosh Ranka urge the media not to blame local villagers for the alleged assault?
How did the alleged assault on Ranka and his team unfold during their school visit?
According to Ranka, him and his team were assaulted by a group of people on their way. “They attacked us and fractured the arm of one of our volunteers,” he said, as stated in an earlier HT report.
He also shared a clip on X, alleging assault, stone pelting and smashing of car windows by a group of people. “Clothes were torn. Stones were thrown into tubes to attack the team. My clothes were torn,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}He also shared a clip on X, alleging assault, stone pelting and smashing of car windows by a group of people. “Clothes were torn. Stones were thrown into tubes to attack the team. My clothes were torn,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}He also blamed Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar for the condition of schools in the state. According to Ranka, the school the CJP team was headed to was operating under a buffalo shed.
Chaos caught on camera, what villagers said
The chaos that unfolded in Jaipur was caught on camera. A viral video showed a CJP team heading from one side and another group heading from another. According to news agency PTI, the CJP team, Ranka among them, was chased away as they tried to visit Bagru village.
However, there is no clarity on whether villagers were involved in this ruckus.
Some villagers also reacted to the incident, saying they didn't hit anyone. “We did not do anything. They had brought 200-250 people with them. We did not hit them. We spoke to them calmly, but they broke their own car. They say that they had come to repair the school,” a villager was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The CJP, which was the face of the massive student protest against NEET-UG paper leak, recently launched another campaign called ‘School Thik Karo’, as part of which outfit's founder Abhijeet Dipke and other prominent members have been visiting several government schools to take stock of their condition.