'They're not saints': Wangchuk says CJP founders have political ambitions
What's the story
Activist Sonam Wangchuk has said that the founders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have political ambitions. He made this observation during his time at the Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi. However, he stressed that having such aspirations is not a bad thing and encouraged more young leaders to join or form their own political parties. "They are not saints who do not want anything out of this," Wangchuk said in a podcast with Prakhar Gupta.
Details
Wangchuk's assessment
In the podcast, Wangchuk noted, "As far as their political ambitions are concerned, I think they do have political ambitions. I have assessed them quite closely, and I believe they certainly have political ambitions. And perhaps there is nothing wrong with that either. They did not tell me that they have political ambitions. This is my assessment of them."
He said he urged the leaders to maintain the "sanctity" of the platform and keep it a neutral, apolitical pressure group.
Collaborative efforts
Political ambitions shouldn't compromise neutrality of student movements: Wangchuk
Wangchuk has worked closely with CJP founders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka during the nearly two-month-long protest.
The protest demanded the removal of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister.
Despite his close association with them, Wangchuk stressed that their political ambitions shouldn't compromise the neutrality of student movements.
"I was happy to see that they maintained it that way," he said about the neutrality maintained.
Political neutrality
Wangchuk dismisses concerns about Dipke's past association with AAP
Wangchuk stressed that student movements should not be associated with any political party, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The 59-year-old activist also dismissed concerns about Dipke's past association with AAP, about which he was warned by certain people, saying it was normal for young leaders to have political aspirations and work with political parties.