‘Nothing more than a travel vlog’: CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s old post on Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra goes viral

As the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) continues its protest at Jantar Mantar seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over NEET exam irregularities, an old social media post of the outfit’s founder Abhijeet Dipke has gone viral.

In the post from September 2022, Dipke, who at the time was associated with the Aam Aadmi Party as a political communication strategist, mocked the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Gandhi launched the Bharat Jodo Yatra in September 2022 and walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a period of 136 days.

“Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra will end up as nothing more than a travel vlog,” Dipke said in his post.

The social media post resurfaced amid the CJP’s protest and the ongoing hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk, who joined the demonstrations at Jantar Mantar on June 28.

Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike for the past 19 days, and as the Ladakhi activist refuses to end his fast, there are growing concerns about the health of the 59-year-old.

Congress silence on CJP protest

As the CJP protest continues, many have also questioned the silence of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party.

Notably, several political leaders, from Akhilesh Yadav to Mahua Moitra and Arvind Kejriwal, have pledged solidarity with the protest and urged Wangchuk to end his hunger strike.

While Congress has not officially appealed to Wangchuk, the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday urged him to end his fast.

Tharoor's open letter

Tharoor, in an open letter, said that with Parliament in session again from Monday, there will be an opportunity to raise the students' issues at the highest forum of democracy.

"That's where the problem should be addressed, not by fasting unto death. Please heed my plea," he said.

"My dear young friends, I address you today not as a politician or an MP, but as someone deeply troubled by what is happening to your generation of young Indians. This is personal for me. I was born to a middle-class family: my father was a salaried newspaper employee, my mother a homemaker, with three children to educate on one income," he said.

"For a family like ours, merit was not a slogan. Scholarships, fair examinations, honest results -” these were the only way one salary could carry three children's dreams," the MP said.

Nothing was inherited; everything was earned by hard work and exams, he stressed.

"So I know that a fair, merit-based system is the only ladder for young people from lower and middle-income families to climb up. When that ladder is broken -”- papers leaked, examinations cancelled, trust destroyed --” the children of the rich and powerful do not suffer.

"They have other ladders. It is your dreams, and your families' sacrifices (and tragically, in some homes, young lives themselves) that are betrayed," Tharoor said in his open letter.

To the young people gathered at Jantar Mantar, and those raising your voices peacefully across India: this country hears you, he said.

"Your anger is not indiscipline -” it is the anguish of a generation that did everything right and was still betrayed . You are not alone," the Congress leader said.

"And to the millions of young Indians watching quietly: your generation is not a problem to be managed. You are the answer to India's future. Do not lose hope. This ladder will be rebuilt -” by you, and by every Indian who stands with you," he said.

In his message to Wangchuk, Tharoor made a "heartfelt appeal" to him to end his fast.

"You have awakened the conscience of the nation; that is what a fast is meant to do. India needs your voice for the long road ahead," Tharoor said.

In his message to the government, Tharoor urged it to reach out and engage in the dialogue "our democracy owes its young citizens".

"That is not weakness; that is statesmanship," he asserted.