New Delhi: The Abhijeet Dipke-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) faced its first internal rebellion on Thursday, with former volunteer Manish Brahmbhatt launching a breakaway platform called the Cockroach Janata Party-Democratic (CJP-D).
Brahmbhatt accused Dipke of sidelining protesters and volunteers and turning the youth-led movement into a hand-picked “Team Kejriwal”. He alleged that the CJP leadership was dominated by people with previous associations with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was primarily focused on opposing the BJP.
Launching the CJP-D at its first press conference in Delhi, Brahmbhatt said the CJP had initially been a “faceless” movement that attracted support because of anger over a Chief Justice’s reported reference to young people, unemployed persons and RTI activists as “cockroaches”.
Brahmbhatt alleged that the movement began to be politicised after it gained momentum, comparing Dipke’s alleged use of Sonam Wangchuk and volunteers to Arvind Kejriwal’s use of activist Anna Hazare during the anti-corruption movement.
“The movement succeeded because of the volunteers, protesters and Sonam ji. But after its success, they started politicising it,” Brahmbhatt said.
He alleged that Dipke was now creating a “selected team” at the behest of Kejriwal and said the CJP-D had been formed to oppose this approach and build a broader organisation.
Brahmbhatt also levelled allegations concerning the funding of the CJP, claiming that its hotel and flight expenses were sponsored by Kejriwal and alleging that transactions were routed through an “angadia” network. He said his group was collecting details of the alleged transactions.
He further alleged that the CJP had reached an understanding under which it would not aggressively campaign in states not governed by the BJP, claiming that the arrangement was intended to facilitate political cooperation in future elections. He alleged that Kejriwal was using the CJP to pursue his political ambitions by “using students and protesters”.
CJP-D member Sushil Tiwari, who was present at the launch, accused the CJP leadership of betraying protesters who had participated in demonstrations at Jantar Mantar.
“We came to Jantar Mantar on the 20th. We were beaten with lathis, and we are still having difficulty walking. We are students; we came for the students,” Tiwari said. He alleged that the CJP had subsequently betrayed the protesters after its leaders met Kejriwal. He said he had joined the CJP-D in the hope that it would fight for justice for the protesters.
Meanwhile, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke rejected suggestions that the organisation was aligned with any political party. Responding to allegations that the CJP was either the Congress or AAP’s “B-team”, Dipke said the organisation represented students.
“The Maharashtra Chief Minister says I am the Congress party’s ‘B-team’, while others say I am the AAP’s ‘B-team’. Everyone should sit together and decide whose ‘B-team’ I actually am and what exactly I represent. As far as we are concerned, we are the students’ ‘A-team’,” Dipke said.
The launch of the CJP-D marks the first significant challenge to Dipke’s leadership since the movement gained prominence, with Brahmbhatt seeking to position the breakaway platform as a more democratic alternative.
The CJP emerged from a youth-led protest movement sparked by controversial remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant about protesters. The movement grew around demands linked to examination irregularities and student grievances, with its Jantar Mantar agitation eventually leading to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on July 25.
