Congress to cadre: Ignore CJP, focus on NEET-CBSE stir

NEW DELHI: Congress plans to intensify its agitation on NEET-CBSE controversies over the next fortnight, amid a directive to party members that they should stay focused on issues pertaining to students and youth, without being distracted by plans of Cockroach Janta Party.The announcement of a physical protest by CJP in Delhi on June 6 has raised the antennae in Congress that it could be another “India Against Corruption” strategy of political rivals. Congress strategists and youth organisations have found CJP’s link to a rival, and Congress has told its members the outfit’s actions should be treated with caution. A strategist said, “We are watchful, not worried. The country has been misled once, and it cannot be misled again.”With Rahul Gandhi leading the opposition charge on NEET-CBSE controversies, Youth Congress has hit the streets across cities that are believed to have a resonance on the twin issues.YC chief Uday Bhanu Chib kicked off a nationwide protest in Goa on May 29, and it would cover Maharashtra, Telangana, Assam, Haryana, MP, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Punjab, and end with Tamil Nadu on June 20. The party’s students’ outfit NSUI too is holding protests across cities. On June 6, when CJP holds the protest, YC would hit the road in Haryana.Congress is still scarred by memories of the Anna Hazare agitation during UPA that led to creation of AAP. “The idea of others is to hype up the ‘Gen Z movement’, and then to project them as aligned with their political party. NEET is just incidental for them,” a Congress member said, adding, “But for us, NEET and demand for the education minister’s resignation are the prime issues. Ours is not a political agenda with NEET-CBSE as cover.”