New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party on Tuesday welcomed a Delhi High Court order to unblock its original X handle, as its protest at the Jantar Mantar demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation and government accountability for exam “irregularities” entered its 18th day, with activist Sonam Wangchuk completing the 10th day of his indefinite hunger strike in support of the demands.
Addressing a press conference, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said Wangchuk had lost more than six kgs since beginning the fast, with his blood pressure remaining “quite low”.
“It is deeply unfortunate that someone like Sonam Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike for days, yet the government refuses to act. It is difficult to understand how a government can be so ignorant,” Dipke said.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered the restoration of the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) original X handle after the Centre informed it that the account had been withheld to prevent “chaos” ahead of the NEET-UG re-test on June 21, and that there would be no difficulty revoking it now.
Wangchuk thanked the judiciary for restoring the CJP’s X account and expressed hope that the government would now respond to the agitation.
“We thank the court for the decision. We hope this peaceful rebellion is now heard by the government and that such non-violent methods are rewarded, not punished. Otherwise, people will lose faith in peaceful protest,” Wangchuk said.
Dipke termed the court order a “big win” not just for the CJP and the movement, but also for free speech and digital rights.
“We will continue to raise the youth’s voice, both online and offline,” he said.
Questioning the Centre’s stand before the court, Dipke said the government had initially claimed that the CJP posed a threat to national security but later told the court that its account was blocked because its posts could create unrest among students and parents during the NEET re-examination.
“When our account was blocked, the government claimed that we were a threat to national security. Today, it told the court that the blocking order was issued because our posts could create unrest among students and parents during the NEET re-test.
“Such contradictory statements are absurd in the first place. Our account should have been blocked had we posted anything wrong or illegal. But all we did was raise the voice of the youth. Blocking our account without any warning was completely unjustified,” Dipke said.
He also thanked senior advocates Akhil Sibal, Vrinda Grover and Nakul Gandhi for helping the CJP secure the court order.
A delegation of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) visited the protest site on Tuesday to express solidarity with the agitation.
The farmers’ body reiterated its support for the CJP’s demands, including Pradhan’s resignation, scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA), compensation to families of students who died by suicide, punishment for those responsible for examination “irregularities”, and an end to what it termed centralised corruption.
The delegation comprised leaders from several SKM constituents, including Hannan Mollah and P Krishnaprasad.
Meanwhile, members of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) affiliated to the CPI(ML) Liberation – Neha, Manish, Hrishikesh, Deepak Kumar Verma and Aameen – continued their indefinite hunger strike on a separate stage at the protest site.
The CJP has been demanding Pradhan’s resignation, alleging that repeated examination irregularities and paper leaks have devastated the lives of students and their families.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, for admission to medical colleges held on May 3 was cancelled over allegations of paper leak. A re-test was held on June 21.
The CJP protest, which began on June 20, has drawn support from several political leaders, activists and civil society members.
