CJP team attacked during Rajasthan school visit, party accuses BJP
Jaipur: A team of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was attacked and forced to retreat from a village in Rajasthan's Jaipur district on Friday, after a crowd confronted them during their attempt to visit a government primary school. The incident took place in Rampura Kanwarpura village, which falls under the Bagru Assembly constituency of Jaipur district.
Video footage that emerged from the scene showed a large crowd confronting the CJP members, who were led by party co-founder Ashutosh Ranka, as they made their way into the village. The crowd was seen shouting slogans against the activists, with some people calling them "urban naxals", "anti-nationals" and "Pakistanis". Some men were seen beating the CJP volunteers, who were eventually forced to leave the village without visiting the school.
The CJP has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being behind the attack. Mr. Ranka claimed that it was the villagers who had invited the team to inspect the school, which he said has been running from a cowshed for several years. He also said that the police had been informed about the visit in advance, but despite that, "BJP goons" were already present at the spot.
"For many years the school has been running from a cowshed. We visited the same school last year too. We had informed the police about today's visit. But the BJP goons were already there. Our volunteers were assaulted. Our cars were smashed, phones were broken, a woman was assaulted, my shirt was torn, and one of our team members suffered a fractured hand," Mr. Ranka told journalists after the attack.
In a social media post on X, Mr. Ranka urged the media not to blame the villagers, claiming that outsiders were brought in to incite violence. "It was the villagers who had requested us to come and inspect the school. I have been told that the local BJP councillor was seen distributing money to some goons," he posted.
However, Jaipur MLA Swami Balmukundacharya, who belongs to the BJP, gave a contrasting account of the incident. He said the villagers had opposed the visit because they did not agree with the CJP's views. "I have been informed that the villagers objected to the visit and did not allow the CJP to enter. This shows that the villagers do not want the kind of atmosphere that the Cockroach Party is trying to create, where they want to disrupt the children's education," he said.
CJP member Shivangi Sharma, who was part of the visiting team, said women were also attacked and abused by the crowd. "I am from this area, born and brought up here. I was called Pakistani, Naxal and outsider. How can they call us outsiders within our own country? I am very sad with what happened today," she told PTI.
Some protesters, who claimed to be local villagers, questioned why the CJP had not gone to Jharkhand if it was genuinely concerned about education. "They are anti-nationals. Why did they not go to Jharkhand? We don't want them in our village," one man told NDTV. Another villager said the area lacked basic development. "This area has not seen any development. There are no roads, schools, nothing in our area. We want facilities," he said.
The attack triggered a political storm in the Rajasthan Assembly on the same day, with the ruling Congress and opposition BJP crossing swords. Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasara blamed the BJP for the attack, while Rajasthan Home Minister Jawahar Singh Bedam claimed the Congress was creating trouble in the garb of the CJP.
Mr. Ranka said that this was not the first visit by the CJP to the school, noting that the party had visited it last year as well. The party has said it will take legal action. The police have not commented on the incident so far.
