Wangchuk Reveals CJP Sought His Help to End NEET Protest After Police Action
Sonam Wangchuk says the Cockroach Janta Party asked him to help end the NEET protest after a police clash, but the appeal was never issued.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has disclosed that the satirical political group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) approached him to help wind down the NEET paper leak protest after a police action at Jantar Mantar on July 20. Speaking on a YouTube podcast, Wangchuk said he was in hospital at the time, recovering from a hunger strike, when CJP organisers reached out to him.
According to Wangchuk, the mood at the protest site had soured after the police action, with the stage vandalised and many protesters dispersing. The CJP leadership, he said, felt there was no hope and asked him to appeal to protesters to return home and regroup later. Wangchuk agreed to the idea and drafted a message asking protesters to leave, but the message was ultimately never sent.
However, the protest did not fizzle out. Wangchuk praised the young students who returned to the site the next day, saying their presence revived the morale of the protest leaders. He credited this continuity for keeping the agitation alive until it achieved its goal — the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The CJP, founded by Abhijeet Dipke, a Boston University graduate and former Aam Aadmi Party volunteer, began its protest at Jantar Mantar on June 6. The movement gained wider attention after Wangchuk joined, and his hunger strike began on June 28. He remained at the protest site until police moved him to a hospital over health concerns.
Wangchuk's fast lasted 26 days. He noted that the protest leaders' morale fluctuated with crowd size, and the youth's decision to return after the police action was a turning point.