Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday indicated that his party was not keen on contesting elections, and also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'not reaching out' to the country's students following the NEET-UG fiasco.
Dipke held a press conference here ahead of the CJP's protest in the city to seek Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.
Asked whether the CJP will contest elections, Dipke said, "Why should we contest elections? I mean, if everyone in this country has to contest elections to demand their rights...how will it work?" To a question about whether the prime minister should address the country's youth and assure them that paper leaks will not happen again, Dipke said Modi should first apologise to the parents of the five or six students who commited suicide (in the aftermath of the cancellation of the NEET-UG scheduled for May 3).
"Pradhan Mantri ji tweets if anything happens across the world, but here students of this country are committing suicide and there is not even a condolence tweet for them from the prime minister. How long you will talk about your 'Mann ki Baat' and 'Pariksha pe Charcha'? At least listen to students' Mann ki Baat," said Dipke.
If the prime minister interacted with students, he would be able to understand their problems and find solutions, the CJP founder added.
The CJP's nationwide protest will not stop until Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns, he reiterated.
On 15 June, Dipke was slapped by two men while supporters carried him on their shoulders during a protest in Jaipur. Two youths have been detained in connection with the incident.
When questioned about who could be behind the attack, he said, "There were some people belonging to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), and there is nothing new in it." The CJP founder further said that they act like this whenever someone speaks against the government or their ideology.
Dipke also reiterated the demand for Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation given the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and alleged irregularities in the CBSE on-screen marking (OSM) system for Class 12 board examinations.
"We will not deviate from our issues; you attack us as much as you want. We will do our protest peacefully and democratically and not deviate from our main issue, which is about more than one crore students suffering injustice, and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has to take responsibility for it," he said.