The Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) Abhijeet Dipke invoked Shaheed Bhagat Singh and the farmers’ protest as he addressed students and youth at Golden Gate, Amritsar, during the party’s nationwide protest demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The CJP protest in Amritsar is part of the party’s ongoing campaign for reforms in India’s education system, greater transparency in examinations, and stronger accountability after the NEET paper leak and CBSE fiasco.
“The government sitting in Delhi is taking us for granted; it’s time to teach them a lesson. We had demanded that Dharmendra Pradhan resign by June 13. So today, I have come to the heart of Punjab to seek your support in holding this government accountable,” said Dipke, who arrived almost an hour late after getting stuck in traffic.
Dipke said he had gone to the Singhu border during the farmers’ movement. “Anybody who questions the government, they label as ‘Pakistani’. Over 800 farmers were sacrificed and the BJP government was busy calling them anti-nationals. They called Punjab’s farmers ‘Pakistani’, they called me ‘Pakistani’, and they called students who exposed CBSE’s lapses ‘Pakistani’. Then who is an Indian?” he asked the crowd, which included farmers, students, and government job aspirants. Throughout his speech, the crowd rallied behind him with heated slogans against PM Modi and BJP.
Dipke also credited Punjabis for leading revolutions. “This is a state of revolutionaries. Whether it was the freedom movement or this student movement, it cannot be completed without the support of Punjabis,” he said. This was followed by slogans of ‘Bhagat Singh Zindabad’.
Earlier, Abhijeet also paid obeisance at Golden Temple under special police escort. He denied having any political motive behind taking the movement to poll-bound Punjab, on the day former Haryana CM and senior BJP minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was also in Amritsar, called anyone supporting or funding CJP ‘anti-national’.
“It’s a student movement, a movement led by youth, for the youth, for justice and accountability,” he said.
Jagbir Singh, a 65-year-old farmer from a village near Fatehgarh Churian whose farms were destroyed during the Ajnala floods, was among the audience at the CJP protest. He saw Dipke as a ‘hope’ for Punjab’s youth. “Koi teh saddi gall sunega, saddi gall karega,” he said. Singh was happy that Punjabi youth had come to listen to Dipke, who he said was raising important issues of education.
Similar sentiments were shared by Jyoti Kumar, a BEd graduate from Beas aspiring for an ETT job. “There have been no job vacancies for teachers in government schools here. Where will educated youth go for employment? If there is a test, it gets cancelled or postponed. If there is an appointment letter, the posting gets delayed,” she said.
A businessman from Ludhiana and a couple of students from Jalandhar had also travelled to Amritsar for CJP’s protest.
