Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Aug 6: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) will launch a ‘Kya bolti public’ campaign next month to interact with people all over India and to get to know their issues, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the CJP’s core team meeting in his hometown Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, he also said the CJP wants to act as a pressure group and change the country’s political discourse by highlighting the issues of education and unemployment.
The CJP core team had been holding talks at Dipke’s residence since Wednesday.
On the occasion, it was announced that Dipke will be the convenor of the CJP, while chief spokesperson Saurav Das and spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka will be its co-convenors.
Dipke said, “During the ‘Kya bolti public’ campaign, we will get to know what people think of the present situation in the country and what the issues they face are. Because it is the time to listen to the public. We have decided not to repeat the mistakes committed earlier. Nobody wants to talk about the expectations, dreams and hopes of Gen Z. They were dismissed.”
“Majority of the country’s population is young, who are going to run the country in future. Therefore, no policy decision should be taken without consulting them. We will undertake an exercise for stakeholders’ consultation to understand their issues,” he said.
Describing Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as the biggest achievement of the students’ agitation, Dipke said, “The fear which this government created in the last 10-12 years in the minds of people has now ended…The youth of the country got their voice back.”
“People will now come onto the streets. Today, they have sought resignation of one person; tomorrow they will demand resignations of others,” he said.
CJP will operate as per Dr B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru’s vision for a developed India. Our ideology is the same as the Constitution of India, Dipke added.
Protests led by CJP at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi last month over the NEET paper leak and other exam irregularities led to Pradhan resigning as the Union education minister.
There were not only students but also jobless youngsters who participated in the Jantar Mantar protest, Dipke said.
“Unemployment is a major problem; we will make it a nationwide issue. We will work on education reforms. Education has remained unaffordable since schooling. Today, education (sector) is being used for making profits. But we want to change it,” he said.
Sixty per cent of people in the country are below the age of 35 and there were protesters from this age group at Jantar Mantar also, Dipke noted.
“CJP wants to change the political discourse and wants that the issues of education and unemployment should be discussed. It will act as a pressure group and continue to work on the issues of the youth and education,” he said.
“As a pressure group, we want to change the political discourse. In Uttar Pradesh, political discourse is about ‘shamshan bhumi’ (crematoriums) and ‘kabrastan’ (cemetery), while in Maharashtra, they talk about ‘batoge to katoge’ (if you divide, you will be destroyed). But this talk will not provide jobs or good education to anyone. Therefore, we want the political discourse to be about education and unemployment,” he said.
Educational reforms will be the priority of the CJP, he said, adding that the country was lagging behind because education is not a priority of the political parties and also of those in the government.
“We want educational reforms as education in the country has become unaffordable. The government has shut 94,000 schools when they should have been upgraded or renovated. The government chose to shut them because it gave direct benefit to the private schools. We want to change this. Educational fees should be capped, and this is the responsibility of the government,” he said.
Dipke also highlighted the issue of institutional accountability.
“The situation is very dangerous because people are losing faith as there is no accountability left in the institutions. People elect someone while the government is formed by someone else. If this is not stopped, then the parties will be broken with the help of ED and CBI. If this keeps happening, it will pose a danger to democracy,” he said.
The Election Commission of India also needs to fix accountability or else polls will become a mere formality, the CJP founder said.
“Earlier, voters used to elect the government, but now the government is selecting the voter. The government is deciding who will vote and who will not. Democracy cannot run like this,” he said.
Talking about the roles of judiciary and media, he said that common people do not get justice and the media does not talk about issues faced by them.
”Justice delivery is not speedy. People have to visit courts multiple times. But when a big businessman approaches court, the hearing takes place urgently. Also hearings are held urgently when a government has to be pulled down or MPs and MLAs have to switch parties. But this is not the case with common people. Therefore, they are also losing faith in the judiciary,” he said.
People are also disgruntled with the media because they run the agenda of a single party and do not speak about people’s issues, Dipke added. (PTI)
