Demand for good schools not anti-Govt: CJP
Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke has asked how a demand for good schools or improvement in their condition can be termed an anti-Government narrative, urging Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to visit ‘ashramshalas’ for a “reality check”.
He was speaking to the media on Thursday after meeting tribal students protesting in Nashik.
Dipke said the disparity in facilities, food and education provided to tribal students was “completely unacceptable”. More than 100 tribal students from different parts of Maharashtra are participating in the protest at Eidgah ground in Nashik, with three of them on hunger strike over a host of demands, including better food and students’ safety. The protesting students also drew Dipke’s attention to the poor condition of toilets at ashramshalas (Government residential schools), health issues and a lack of educational facilities. “The chief minister should visit the ashramshalas for a reality check,” Dipke said.
He also criticised what he called “the Government’s policy of privatising schools and educational facilities”, saying if it wanted to privatise schools, the state secretariat should also be privatised. To a question regarding Fadnavis’s criticism of CJP as the “Congress Jitao Party”, he said, “BJP leaders should first decide whether CJP is the ‘B’ team of terrorists or Congress. How can a demand for good schools or improvement in their condition be an anti-Government narrative? “People removed the Congress from power because it did nothing. Now, you have been in power for the last 12 years. Present a balance sheet of what you have done,” he said.
During the interaction, one of the protesting students fell ill due to the hunger strike and was admitted to a hospital. Dipke stopped the interaction and reached the hospital to check on him.
Vivek Gavit from Nashik, Rahul Pawara from Surgana (Nashik) and Laxmi Jadhav from Nandurbar are on an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the Government accept their demands. The protesters have claimed 592 students have died in ashram schools in the state and demanded compensation for their families and suspension of officials responsible. They have also sought the resignation of the tribal development minister in view of alleged suspicious deaths in ashram schools and shortcomings in student safety. Other demands include fresh food for students in tribal hostels instead of the centralised food system, an end to the alleged collection of money from students in the name of donations, and a committee involving tribal social organisations to probe alleged corruption in the Tribal Sports Academy.
The protesters have also sought insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh for every ashram school student.
During his visit to the city on September 2, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also met a delegation of protesting tribal students and interacted with them to understand their problems.
