Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh gives his views on Cockroach Janta Party
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) movement is an important vehicle for sending a message of frustration on the part of the youth, but ultimately established political parties have to take the issues raised by them forward.In an interview with PTI Videos, the Congress general secretary also asserted that democracies cannot be dependent only on movements and are ultimately anchored in political parties.”Some people say it is sponsored by the deep state, some people say it is a reflection of the frustration of youth. There is no way to prove either, but the fact is — it caught the social media space and it got a lot of headlines, but it is not a political party,” Ramesh said when asked about the CJP movement.”It is political parties that ultimately count. It is the party structure that counts. So while it was an important vehicle for sending a message of frustration on the part of the youth, ultimately I think established political parties have to take this forward,” he said.Ramesh said the Congress is running a campaign as part of which Rahul Gandhi addressed students in Kota and will do so in Prayagraj, Patna and Delhi. “We have to continue with this, no doubt about it. He is not just raising the issue of NEET and CBSE, he is raising the fundamental issue of education, he is raising the issue of examination, he is raising the issue of public investment in education,” Ramesh said.The Congress leader said the important point Gandhi made in Kota — that families are spending more on coaching centres than the central government is spending on education — has not gotten the national attention it deserved.”While we have to discuss the examination issue which is very important, I think a situation where families are spending more on coaching centres than the central government is spending on education is itself a fundamental mismatch, a fundamental asymmetry in our education system,” Ramesh said.”Why are coaching centres so popular in this country? Why is medical education so expensive? Why is everything getting privatised? Those are the questions that he raised in Kota and also those are the questions we have to raise in Parliament and outside,” he added.The CJP has continued its sit-in protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, now in its fifth day, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged NEET-UG paper leak and examination irregularities. The group has maintained that the protest will continue until Pradhan resigns.On Tuesday, protesters held a “diaper donation drive” as part of the campaign under the slogan “Diaper a day keeps leaks away.”
