Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders faced major pushback from villagers in Rampura Kanwarpura, a village in Jaipur’s Bagru Assembly constituency, on Friday morning (21st August).
A group of CJP members had arrived in the village to inspect the government primary school. Party co-convener Ashutosh Ranka was also expected to join the inspection.
As soon as the local villagers came to know about CJP’s plan, they barricaded the main approach road and began checking vehicles entering the area. When the CJP members arrived and tried to enter the village, a confrontation broke out between them and the villagers, who said that the wanted to damage the school building. The villagers also staged a sit-in protest outside the school.
The CJP members said that children were being made to sit and attend classes in a cattle shelter instead of the school building. This is the reason that they wanted to inspect the school, but they were prevented from doing so. The CJP workers alleged that they were attacked and were referred to as terrorists and Naxals, and were stopped from raising the issue of children’s education.
Some CJP workers alleged that they were hit with sticks and stones were pelted at them. A CJP member, Sanju, alleged that the attack was launched by “BJP and RSS” goons.
Following clashes with the local villagers, CJP’s top leadership jumped to attack the BJP, blaming the party for the attack on its party members in Rampura Kanwarpura village. The founding president of the party, wrote on X, alleging, “Goons of BJP are after the blood of Ashutosh and other CJP Volunteers”.
Ashutosh Ranka also made a similar allegation and claimed that the people who attacked the CJP workers were not local villagers but “BJP goons”. “Rampura, the government school located in Kanvarpura, has been operating in a buffalo shed for the past several years. I am just now reaching there. But some of our team members who had arrived there were attacked; BJP goons have once again resorted to violence against them. The BJP is fine with our children continuing to study in a buffalo shed, but if we try to get these schools fixed, that is not acceptable to them. What could be more shameful than this?” Ranka wrote on X.
However, Ranka’s allegations were refuted by local villagers, who said that the villagers had initially politely resisted the CJP members, but they did not listen. A villager, Jugal Kishore Sharma, said that over 200 CJP members arrived in the village and they refused to listen to the villagers before the confrontation happened. He added that the villagers informed the CJP members that the local MLA had already allotted ₹12 lakh for the repair of the school building. But the CJP members were adamant about inspecting the school. He further said that the CJP members smashed the windows of their cars.
Ranka calls village woman illiterate
A local woman, Anu Sharma, said that the CJP members wanted to tear down the school building, for which a repair fund has already been approved. She added that children enrolled in the school are temporarily attending classes in a cattle shelter until the repair work of the school is done. She further said that the villagers do not want the school building to be demolished as it is set to be renovated. She said that this is the reason that the villagers got angry after the CJP tried to damage the school.
Ranka, however, dismissed the testimony of the local woman, calling her “anpadh” (illiterate) and “gunda” (goon), alleging that the BJP wanted to keep people in the country illiterate like her.
It is reported that the building of the government primary school was closed after it was declared unsafe. To ensure that the children’s studies are not disturbed, their classes were being held in a cattle shed as a temporary measure.
Do not want politicians who talk about breaking India: Local villagers
Villagers said that they stopped the CJP members from inspecting the school building as they did not want the issue to be politicised. A local villager said that the villagers do not want the involvement of any politicians in the matters of the village. He said that villagers in the past built a temple in the village with their collective efforts and will also get the school renovated in the same manner.
He opposed the CJP, saying that the people of the village will not entertain the party whose leaders talk about breaking the country and insult Hindu Gods like Lord Ram.