The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has announced the withdrawal of its 36-day movement following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. The announcement was made at a joint government-CJP press conference in Delhi on Saturday evening. Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the paper leak had been the protesters’ main demand.
Present at the press conference alongside the CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were the union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh. CJP leaders said the decision to withdraw the movement had been taken in good faith, as the government had given assurances that several of their demands would be accepted.
Saurav Das said agreement had been reached on the demands presented to the government for the withdrawal of all cases (FIRs) filed against students, for no action to be taken against protesting students in future, and for the maximum compensation permitted under the existing rules to be given to the families of students who died by suicide over the NEET paper leak.
Addressing the protesters, he said: “The government has accepted our demands. So we call on everyone to return home peacefully.”
Ashutosh Ranka said: “After 36 days of continuous movement the government has accepted all our demands. Our demands were fundamental; they were in no way unreasonable.”
After the announcement of the withdrawal, police called on the protesters occupying Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to leave the site. Because of this movement, which ran for more than a month, traffic was disrupted in various parts of the capital, custom fell in markets, and several metro stations had to be temporarily closed.
Saurav Das said the CJP had demanded 1 crore rupees in compensation for the families of those who died by suicide. The government said the families would be given the maximum honourable compensation permitted under the existing law and rules. A five-point charter of demands on reforming the education and examination system has also been given to the government. There will be another meeting with the government on this in about four weeks, he said.
After the “March to Parliament” programme on 20 July, several cases were filed against protesters in Delhi and in various BJP-ruled and BJP-supported states. The CJP says the government has agreed to withdraw these cases too.
Saurav Das said: “The government has told us that copies of the roughly 15 to 20 FIRs filed in Delhi will be given to us within the next three to four days, and that the process of withdrawing these cases will begin shortly.”
He further said a draft of a written guarantee that no action will be taken against protesters in future and that the FIRs will be withdrawn has been given to the government. An assurance has been received from the government that formal written guarantees on this will be given by next Tuesday.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report