CJP Protest: A Saturday With 'Cockroaches' At Jantar Mantar Of Students, Reels And Slogans

(MENAFN- Live Mint) As the summer sun climbed over Delhi on a sultry June morning, groups of people have gathered in front of the Parliament Street Police Station in the heart of the capital. A battery of Blue Delhi Police buses and vans are stationed across the road near C-Hexagon roundabout surrounding India Gate. Police personnel and paramilitary troops far outnumber the supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

Abhijeet Dipke, the 30-year-old founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), arrives in India from Boston after completing a master's degree in the United States. Dipke has asked supporters and students to join his protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over recent controversies surrounding NEET-UG medical entrance exam, On-Screen Marking (OSM) in CBSE exams.

Also Read | Abhijeet Dipke urges supporters to skip airport gathering as he returns to India

At around 8 AM, Dipke announced on social media that he had landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), about a 30-minute drive from Parliament Street Police Station under normal traffic conditions. Outside the police station, officers urged supporters to clear the road and proceed to Jantar Mantar, where Dipke had been granted permission to hold the protest.

Even so, the few hundred CJP supporters on the ground seemed fewer in number than the content creators who had turned up to cover the event. Armed with smartphones on selfie sticks, many filmed the gathering and interviewed supporters wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with the CJP logo – a cockroach.

About 15 minutes after his arrival, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) announced that the satirical political outfit, which emerged less than a month ago, had been allowed to go ahead with the demonstration. CJP, through its social media handles, appealed to supporters to reach Jantar Mantar – a compound less than a mile away designated for protests.

At Jantar Manta r, attendees were subjected to security checks by police before being allowed into the protest site. The barricaded compound gradually filled with CJP supporters, many of them students, as well as journalists and television crews covering the event.

As crowds streamed in from both sides, supporters broke into chants demanding Pradhan's resignation.

Also Read | Cockroach Janta Party protest LIVE | Sonam Wangchuk reaches Jantar Mantar

The crowd reflected a cross-section of people brought together by a shared sense of grievance. There was a parent from Mayur Vihar whose daughter had recently dropped out of NEET preparation following the paper leak controversy; a teacher from Pune who had flown to Delhi to join the protest; Class 12 passouts inspired by the 'Cockroach movement '; a visually impaired man advocating for education reforms; and a grandmother who said her granddaughter had slipped into depression after the paper leak.

“My daughter was preparing for NEET. She was taken aback by the leak of the paper. It's not a class 12 examination. A single mark can mar or make your career. Ask a NEET aspirant. We are glad that someone is speaking for our kids and us,” said On Shankar, the 50-year-old Mayur Vihar resident who was at the protest.

By 10 AM, more people had started streaming into Jantar Mantar. Content creators remained busy filming reels and livestreams, their smartphones mounted on selfie sticks as they documented the gathering. Many supporters wore the trademark cockroach masks during the protest.

Then came an unexpected anti-climax: internet speeds slowed to a crawl. As the crowd swelled, many attendees speculated that signal jammers had been deployed in the area. Whether true or not, the disruption became a talking point among protesters and content creators alike.

By then, however, the gathering was no longer dominated by mobile-wielding reel makers. A growing number of supporters had begun arriving, adding to the crowd and lending the protest a more serious, political character.

“Who has been made accountable for paper leaks. Who will care about the careers of thousands of people left in lurch by paper leaks?” said Harsh Vardhan, a 12th-class passout at the protest

The erratic internet connectivity soon began to take a toll on the gathering, prompting many attendees to leave the venue. Some expressed disappointment over the lack of basic arrangements. There was no stage, no microphone system and little sign of the kind of organised event many had anticipated.

We may be mere insects, but we are alive: Dipke

Dressed in a white T-shirt, Dipke reached the venue at around 10.30 AM. He walked up to the stage-like spot just near the Janata Dal (United) Party's office. He addressed the supporters, now swelled to a few thousand.

"People say, what does it achieve by holding movements, sit-ins, demonstrations, and taking out processions? It proves that we are alive! For the government, we may be mere insects, but we are alive and capable of fighting for our rights,” Dipke told supporters who would repeatedly burst into slogans against Pradhan.

For several supporters, the protest fell short of expectations. Having followed the Cockroach Janta Party 's rapid rise online, many had arrived expecting a well-coordinated demonstration. Instead, they found a largely spontaneous gathering with few visible organisational structures in place. May be CJP had not expected such a big turnout.

“They could have made a proper stage for us to at least watch what he is saying,” said Namita, a lawyer from Noida. But even this crowd for a starter is an encouraging sign, she said.

Few attendees at the protest appeared to represent established political parties. One notable exception was Anish Gawande, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) national spokesperson, who was present at the venue. Left-wing students' organisation All India Students' Association (AISA) was also present during the protest.

'Complete lack of accountability'

In a conversation with Mint during the protest, Anish said that the CJP is a manifestation of a larger problem facing India today: the complete lack of accountability.“Despite hundreds of protests across the country, there has been no action taken against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The lives of crores of students are clearly worthless, meaningless for a government that has forgotten how to care,” he said.

“Young people are taking to the streets to demand justice. To remind the government that it is of the people, by the people, for the people. For opposition parties, this is a clarion call: public discontentment exists, yet there is a disillusionment with traditional parties and ideologically driven politics. We would do well to see why exactly this disillusionment exists - and how we can regain public trust in the lead-up to the 2029 elections,” Anish said.

By noon, people were still streaming into the protest site. Around that time, a group of saffron-clad men appeared on one side of the venue and began raising slogans against the CJP.

Also Read | Over 8 lakh students signed petition demanding Pradhan's resignation: CJP

Some members of the group allegedly referred to the protesters as "Pakistanis", drawing angry reactions from those gathered at the site. As tensions briefly flared, police intervened and escorted the group away, later taking them from the area in a bus.

Back at the venue the crowd swelled. Slogans reverberated in air. Police tried to calm protestors. By 1.30 PM, Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk arrived at the venue. A stage as being set up a microphone was also arranged. Dipke and Wangchuk addressed the gathering. As the day progressed, many people started leaving the venue.

"May be next time we see a better organized protest. But a message has been sent,” said a supporter.

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