After the massive success of its protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) picked West Bengal as the site for its next big movement, but it has met hurdles right from the beginning. CJP national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said on Tuesday, August 18, that the organisation has to call off its planned interaction with supporters in Kolkata after the owners of the venue that was booked were threatened by BJP leaders.
The event was scheduled to take place at Bharat Sabha Hall in North Kolkata, Ranka said, adding that the venue owners withdrew after coming under pressure from leaders of West Bengal’s ruling BJP. He further claimed that six other halls also declined to host the gathering, citing what they described as “massive pressure”.
“Our scheduled Kolkata Meet-Up at Bharat Sabha Hall in North Kolkata has now been cancelled after the owners received threats from BJP leaders. 6 other halls refused stating massive pressure from the state. This only reinforces the fact that the BJP is scared from the cockroaches. And while we will indeed miss out on interacting with the lovely Cockroaches of Bengal, we promise to make up for it with a much bigger event very soon. Most importantly, Cockroaches of Bengal will continue to visit govt schools and push the Bengal govt to get them fixed. The more you stop us, the bigger we become,” Ranka wrote in a post on X.
The controversy comes as CJP continues its ‘School Theek Karo’ (Fix the schools) campaign in West Bengal. Under the initiative, members of the organisation are visiting government schools in towns and villages to assess infrastructure, facilities and their overall functioning.
Ranka said CJP would continue visiting schools across Bengal and seek to press the state government to address shortcomings identified during these visits.
CJP, led by founder Abhijeet Dipke, has emerged from the student-led protest movement in the wake of the NEET paper leak in July and centred on examination-related concerns and demands directed at the Union government. The organisation had earlier held discussions with Union ministers during the agitation, which led to the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
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On August 15, Dipke visited a government school in his native village of Santuk Pimpri in Hingoli district of Maharashtra and started the ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign. He interacted with young girls and asked them their experiences of the school amenities. Based on this feedback, CJP listed the issues troubling the students: poor water supply, lack of drinking water, benches, dirty washrooms and broken windows.
The gram panchayat then sent a formal order to the state government for the repair work, and Santuk Pimpri Sarpanch Vijay Puri said the broken windows and defunct CCTV cameras are being changed currently.
