After the NEET protests shook the Centre, CJP is now deciding where the movement goes next

After emerging as the face of student protests over examination irregularities, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is now preparing for its next move, with its leaders set to meet in Maharashtra to discuss how the movement can grow beyond conventional politics. The youth-led satirical outfit has said it wants to take its work to the grassroots instead of turning into another political party.

At a media interaction on Tuesday, the CJP leadership said public grievances required a broader social awakening rather than the creation of a conventional political alternative. Founder Abhijeet Dipke and spokespersons Saurav Das and Vaishnavi Gaur are among those expected to attend the meeting, where the group will discuss its future course of action.

CJP core committee meeting in Maharashtra

The CJP was behind last month's massive stir against NEET paper leaks, which ended with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister. Since then, questions have grown over how the group will carry forward the work it began as the face of Gen Z protests.

"We were asked questions about where this movement will go after the success of the protest, and we have all come to strategise around the same. We will hold discussions over it and think about how to take it to grassroots level... When we come up with something concrete on August 6th, we will inform everyone on our future strategy," Saurav Das, chief spokesperson of the CJP, said.

No immediate plan to enter electoral politics

Das said the CJP was a movement rather than a political party. "While there are numerous political parties, the answer to people's pain is not another political party, but an awakening on grassroot level, and this is what CJP is doing," Das said. The group has also ruled out any immediate plan to enter electoral politics.

Dipke said the party would consult Gen Z on the issues they wanted raised. "The purpose will be to form the agenda for the Cockroach Janta Party and discuss how we can take this social movement forward," Dipke told Reuters.

Focus on grassroots expansion and youth-centric issues

CJP supporters will meet for two days from Wednesday to review the recent Jantar Mantar protest, discuss organisational expansion and chart the group's future roadmap. "Our core team members, including our spokespersons and everyone who helped us manage the protest, will be attending. All our core members will be here... As of now, we have no plans (to form a political party)," Dipke said.

The group is seeking to create a grassroots organisation with workers in every district, Das said. "The movement is about accountability. The issues that we want to raise are all going to be youth-centric," Das was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. "We want to take this movement to the grassroots because people at the grassroots face a lot of issues and nobody hears them out."

Leaders speak on recent protests and impact

Criticising the government's handling of the recent CJP protests, Vaishnavi said the authorities should engage in dialogue rather than impose one-sided mandates. "The way BJP and RSS have held other rallies recently, it is not much of a dialogue; it is dictation. So we just hope that they engage in dialogue instead of dictation. Children should not be bullied that is our hope. Otherwise, we will continue working on our youth movement," Vaishnavi told news agency ANI.

CJP leader Ratna Singh said the political effect of the movement had spread beyond major cities. She said, "No, the RSS comes forward only to help them whenever they do, so there is no doubt about that. But whether this movement has had an impact, do you think, on voters... it definitely has, it has because just as much as you saw at Jantar Mantar, it has also had an impact in every village where people couldn't even come. So definitely..."

For now, the CJP leadership has said it will use the Maharashtra meeting to review the protest, discuss expansion, consult young people on the issues to be taken up and decide the movement's future strategy, while staying away from any immediate move into electoral politics.