Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) expanding campaign around the condition of government schools has opened up a wider political confrontation in BJP-ruled West Bengal, with allegations of intimidation, a death in Bankura and a cancelled Kolkata meeting bringing the fledgling outfit into direct conflict with the Suvendu Adhikari government.
The flashpoint came on August 18 when the CJP alleged that political pressure forced the cancellation of a meeting it had planned in Kolkata. CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka claimed the organisers’ booking at Bharat Sabha Hall was cancelled after venue owners allegedly received threats from BJP leaders.
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“Our scheduled Kolkata meet-up at Bharat Sabha Hall in north Kolkata has been cancelled after the owners received threats from BJP leaders. Six other halls refused, stating massive pressure from the state,” Ranka alleged in a social media post.
The BJP refuted the allegation. “The CJP’s allegations are baseless. The concerned people can say why the permission was cancelled or if any permission was at all given in the first place. The common people of Bengal are with the BJP. Why would we resort to such practices at all?” remarked Joy Mallick, Bengal BJP IT chief and party spokesperson.
A state BJP leader added: “The allegations by CJP are baseless and fabricated. We believe in a democratic set-up.”
The CJP said it had approached several alternative venues but encountered similar refusals. The party had contacted Bharat Sabha Hall on August 17 and was asked to return the next morning to complete the booking. “When we arrived the next day, the management refused to proceed with the booking,” Ranka claimed.
He said six other venues were subsequently approached, but they too refused to host the event. Ranka interpreted the cancellation as evidence that the BJP was becoming apprehensive about the organisation’s activities. “This only reinforced that the BJP is scared of the Cockroaches. And while we will indeed miss out on interacting with the lovely Cockroaches of Bengal, we promise to make up for it with a much bigger event very soon,” Ranka wrote.
The CJP’s scheduled press conference at the Kolkata Press Club also ran into difficulties. The organisation said the indoor event could not be held because of problems with electricity while reports also cited waterlogging and the unavailability of suitable space. The press conference was subsequently held on the road outside the club.
The CJP alleged that the disruptions were part of an attempt to silence it. Ranka claimed the BJP MLA from Bowbazar had put pressure to disallow the CJP’s engagement. “We cannot be threatened or intimidated this way. The BJP is trying to gag the voice of CJP in Bengal,” Ranka said, adding that political parties that believe in democracy should support the organisation’s ‘school clean-up campaign’ and its efforts to improve the education system.
The controversy is only the latest chapter in a confrontation that began with the CJP’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign taken up by its activists in various parts of the country. The strategy involves visiting government schools, documenting poor infrastructure and demanding that authorities address the deficiencies.
In Bengal, one such visit by CJP volunteer Sheikh Abdul Hafeez to the Karisunda Paschimpara Primary School in Bankura has turned into a political and legal dispute. On August 13, Hafeez visited the school to document its condition. That night, a group of alleged assailants arrived at his home in Karishunda village. According to the CJP and Hafeez’s family, he was attacked with sticks, iron rods and crowbars. He managed to flee but his father was allegedly assaulted.
The father was taken to the Indas block primary health centre. His condition deteriorated and he was admitted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital on August 15, where he died.
The CJP alleged the attack was connected to Hafeez’s school campaign and blamed it on people linked to the BJP. CJP leaders said 15-20 assailants were involved. The BJP strongly refuted any organisational involvement.
The police, meanwhile, disputed the CJP’s description of Hafeez’s father’s death. In a statement on X, the police said he had suffered a minor injury that required a single stitch and later “got self-admitted to Burdwan Medical College after experiencing severe blood pressure fluctuations”. “No life-threatening injury was found by doctors who treated him,” the police said.
The police investigation also resulted in arrests. Following a written complaint by Hafeez’s mother, eight people were arrested. The police said two other accused persons were absconding. A police guard was deployed at Hafeez’s home.
The case acquired a political dimension almost immediately. Ranka travelled from Delhi to Karishunda with CJP associates and met Hafeez and his family. “We are giving the Bengal government 10 days. All the accused should be arrested and sent to jail within this period, and all necessary legal sections should be invoked against them,” Ranka said, besides demanding a court-monitored investigation into the conduct of personnel at Indas police station.
The family, meanwhile, rejected the idea of monetary compensation. According to the CJP, Hafeez instead wanted a school be built in his father’s name.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke framed Hafeez’s campaign as part of a larger political and civic movement. Visiting a school in Maharashtra, he said Hafeez had participated in the CJP’s Jantar Mantar agitation. “Then he went to his village in West Bengal. Like I am visiting schools here, he visited a school there. Some goons of the BJP tried to beat him up. His father tried to save him and suffered severe injuries,” Dipke alleged.
Even as its Kolkata meeting collapsed, Ranka on August 18 reiterated the CJP’s commitment not to abandon the school campaign. “The Cockroaches of Bengal will continue to visit government schools and push the Bengal government to get them fixed. The more you stop us, the bigger we become,” he wrote.
The confrontation in Bengal has acquired an additional edge because it is unfolding in the backdrop of the BJP occupying power in the state for the first time. The claims remain sharply contested. The CJP has alleged BJP involvement in the Bankura attack and political pressure over its Kolkata event; the BJP has dismissed the allegations as fabricated. The police, for their part, have not attributed the Bankura incident to any political organisation and have challenged the claim that Hafeez’s father died from a severe physical assault.
What is less disputed is that the CJP has notched some success in turning a campaign over neglected school infrastructure into a broader political battle. For the party, the cancellation of its engagement in Bengal is evidence that its campaign is beginning to unsettle the establishment. For the BJP, it means preparing the ground to not cede an inch of political space to the CJP in Bengal. And for the Adhikari government, the Bankura case is a test of whether the police investigation can establish the circumstances of the death without the case being consumed by competing political narratives.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
