“It is a little too late that the RSS wants to speak with Gen Z now.
He should have spoken with Gen Z on July 20, when these kids were beaten up.
Only because of this agitation, they are interacting with Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” he added.
Organisational overhaulApart from Mr. Dipke’s role as national convenor, the national working committee includes Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das as co-convenors, Mr. Ranka said.
And using those rights, we are going to move forward,” Mr. Dipke added.
Less than two weeks after ending its successful agitation at Jantar Mantar, the Cockroach Janta Party is ready to move to the next level. The group — which still insists it is a social organisation though its protest is political in nature — announced a nationwide membership drive, a public dialogue initiative, and an expansion plan, apart from naming its first national working committee. The announcements were made on Thursday, at the end of a two-day core committee meeting at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Announcing the launch of its ‘Kya Bolti Public’ initiative, which translates to ‘What is the public talking about’, the CJP said it was keen to listen to the voices of ordinary people from different parts of the country. It also plans to launch a crowd-funding initiative to support its expansion. It will continue to focus on education reforms, but will also highlight electoral and judicial reforms and seek to enforce institutional and media accountability.
The CJP’s first national working committee puts young millennials and older members of Gen Z at the helm of the organisation, with the leadership ranging in age from 25 years to 35 years. A zonal architecture is being put in place to create organisational structures across the country. Demonstrating its commitment to expand its footprint beyond the national capital, a CJP team has already headed to Ranchi, where thousands of students and job aspirants are protesting the cancellation of a major State examination due to leaks and irregularities. The new national working committee is also slated to join the protesters in Jharkhand soon.
Changing political discourse
Insisting that the CJP is not a political party, founder and national convenor Abhijeet Dipke said that the group would go the grassroot level and build a culture among the people of seeking accountability from political systems. Though political parties had supported the CJP’s cause, it will not support or oppose any political parties, he said. “We want to change the political discourse. Youth issues will have to be taken up, whoever fights the elections. We will not support or oppose a political party. We will take up issues and speak about them,” he said.
He took a swipe at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat for the timing of his interaction with members of Gen Z, arguing that it was the Jantar Mantar protest that had forced the RSS to stop dismissing the youth.
“It is a little too late that the RSS wants to speak with Gen Z now. Mr. Bhagwat is the godfather of the BJP. He should have spoken with Gen Z on July 20, when these kids were beaten up. He should have made the PM apologise to those kids who were beaten up on the instructions of [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and [Home Minister] Amit Shah,” Mr. Dipke told journalists. “Although if he wishes to interact with Gen Z, it is good. They (Gen Z) have compelled them to speak with them. Until now, they were dismissive of them. Only because of this agitation, they are interacting with Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” he added.
Organisational overhaul
Apart from Mr. Dipke’s role as national convenor, the national working committee includes Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das as co-convenors, Mr. Ranka said. Ajinkya Shinde has been appointed the executive head or the national organisation in-charge; Deepak Baliyan as the organisation co-incharge; Aafreen Nawaz as the national secretary; Vijay Reddy Mallangi as the media lead; Ratna Singh as the legal affairs lead; Vaishnavi Gaur as the research and policy team lead; Rohan Deshpande as the technology chief; and Yogesh Ingale as the finance lead.
CJP’s organisational structure will be divided into five zones, namely north, south, east and north-east, and west zone. These will be led by Deepak Baliyan, Vijay Reddy Mallangi, Ankit Bharadwaj, and Yogesh Ingale respectively. Over the next six months, the group plans to establish State coordination committees as well as Lok Sabha and city-level coordination units across India.
Seeking reforms, accountability
Mr. Dipke said the organisation would work on seeking educational reforms, institutional accountability, electoral reforms by holding the Election Commission accountable, judicial reforms, and media accountability.
“Education is not a business. It is a fundamental right. We will push for educational reforms,” he said. “People’s anger against institutions is increasing. What has been happening about our political systems is a dangerous sign for our democracy. The way the Election Commission has been functioning, where the government chooses who will be the voter, a democracy cannot run like this,” he added.
He said questions are also being raised about the judiciary, about why there is no justice for commoners, while there are urgent hearings and midnight orders in high profile cases.
The media will not be spared either. “Media houses have to know that people are upset with you. You are only running one party’s agenda. You don’t ask questions to that party. How can any decision be called a masterstroke? If the media sees masterstroke in everything, people will stop watching TV. Do you want to raise people’s issues? What will you do for the advertisements if people stop watching you?” Mr. Dipke asked.
‘Not afraid of crackdown’
Asked if he was afraid of a crackdown by the government, he said they had already faced it. “We have already seen a lot. I don’t know what a more intense crackdown can be. May it be on 20th July, or in last one month. Even the water supply to our washrooms was cut. If they want to put us in jail, they are free to do that,” he said.
“We believe we have some other Constitution which has been given to us by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. It has given us some rights. And using those rights, we are going to move forward,” Mr. Dipke added.
