Rajasthan: Students shifted to vacant house after CJP activists' school visit turns tense
An uneasy calm prevailed in Rampura-Kanwarpura village near Jaipur on Saturday, a day after activists of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were allegedly assaulted while attempting to inspect a government school. The villagers said they did not want the issue to take a “political twist”. Police personnel were deployed in the area as a precautionary measure.
About 20 students of the government primary school, who arrived for classes in a tense atmosphere, were shifted to a vacant house nearby. The children had earlier been studying in a cattle enclosure close to the school building, in unhygienic conditions.
The school building, constructed in 1999, was declared unsafe after an audit conducted following a roof collapse at a government school in Jhalawar district in July last year, which left seven students dead. The incident had prompted a state-wide audit of school buildings. Since then, classes for primary students were being held in the porch of a cattle enclosure consisting of ramshackle tin sheds and a room filled with fodder.
CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka had planned to visit the village after highlighting the poor conditions. On Saturday, the students were temporarily shifted to a house owned by Ravishankar Sharma, who provided a room previously used as a grocery shop. As the room contained storage goods and a non-functional ceiling fan, a blackboard was placed outside and classes were held during school hours.
Mr. Sharma said he decided to give the space for children’s education with the consent of villagers. “The school building is dilapidated. These are our own children who were suffering. They can study in my building until the school is fully repaired and declared safe,” he said.
Mr. Ranka said the CJP would continue to raise the issue until good schools were built for the children. “We will not let their future be ruined,” he said in a post on X.
On the locked entrance gate of the cattle enclosure, villagers hung a poster appealing to the CJP to adopt government schools through the Education Department’s ‘Gyan Sankalp’ platform for financial contributions. “Criticism can highlight a problem, but participation can address it and contribution can transform it,” the poster read.
Rajesh Sharma, a former ward member, said the villagers were willing to assist authorities in refurbishing the school, but the issue should not be politicised. “The CJP’s unwarranted entry will only create complications. We are capable of taking care of our children,” he said.
Another villager, Ram Kishore, denied that any villager had attacked the CJP volunteers on Friday, saying the situation went out of control because of their insistence on reaching the school building and disturbing the atmosphere.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Bagru, Kailash Verma, visited the village and said ₹18 lakh had been sanctioned for construction of new classrooms. “No outsider has the right to create unrest and disorder in the village,” he said, accusing Opposition parties of “misleading rhetoric”.
The CJP and local villagers have lodged complaints with the police, accusing each other of assault and causing disturbance. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Jaipur South) Rajarshi Raj Verma said FIRs had been registered based on the complaints of both sides. “The investigation has started and statements are being recorded,” he said.
