Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday took a dig at critics calling out protesters who hit the streets last month over the NEET-UG paper leak, a day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat backed Gen Z in an outreach event.
“To whom it may concern…,” Dipke wrote on X while responding to a post carrying Bhagwat’s comments.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Bhagwat said in a Mumbai event on Thursday that protesting doesn’t make Gen Z anti-national. He added that Gen Z’s concerns were genuine and that protests are also a form of dialogue.
Dipke’s short but sharp message is seen as being directed at a section of BJP leaders, who had alleged foreign links to last month’s student protests that spread across the country, and also suggested “anti-national” elements were fomenting trouble during the protests.
Officials are probing a clash between students and police in the protest epicentre in Delhi and also allegations of police excesses that sparked a massive outcry. Officials have maintained that some vested interest groups and people with criminal antecedents infiltrated what is seen as an organic protest by students demanding examination reforms.
Mohan Bhagwat on Gen Z protesters
Speaking at an event in Mumbai on Thursday, Bhagwat said Gen Z is different from earlier generations because today’s young people expect logical explanations instead of accepting everything they are told.
“When we were of their age (youth), we would listen to our elders. We never used to question. Now, the Gen Z wants logical answers,” he said.
“Gen Z are our own children. If they protest for an issue, how can they become anti-national? Their concerns should be heard. In a democracy, protest is also a form of dialogue. There is nothing wrong in protesting, but it should not be used to create divisions in society,” Bhagwat said, adding that India’s education policy requires improvement and that discussions are needed to achieve it.
Debate over students’ protests
Ever since the CJP-led protests began at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and activist Sonam Wangchuk began his hunger strike demanding exam reforms, several BJP leaders criticised the agitation.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had claimed that “foreign forces have hijacked the students’ outrage and anti-national forces are now driving this movement.”
In a party event in Telangana in June, BJP president Nitin Nabin said: “Parties like virus and cockroach are coming into the country. These are people who want to make the country hollow. There is a need to pay attention to these virus and cockroach people.”
West Bengal chief minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said last month during the nationwide student protests that “anti-national gangs” had become active once again.
BJP Mumbai president Ameet Satam, too, alleged last month that “anti-national elements” had taken part in the CJP protests, accusing the Opposition of joining hands with what he called “tukde tukde gang”.
