Has Kejriwal lent AAP's thunder to Dipke's CJP?

Better schools and a revamp of education were once central to Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP's pitch. It was its USP. With Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) taking the lead in organising protests and raids, AAP leaders are fighting for the Abhijeet Dipke-led outfit. Has AAP lent its thunder to CJP?AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal with CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke during the latter's protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on July 16. (PTI Photo/ AI-edit)There is an expression: "Stealing someone's thunder." But looking at the developments involving Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Abhijeet Dipke's Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), it seems the thunder hasn't been stolen. It has been lent.There was a time when education, and the state of schools, was the AAP's domain. But as the AAP's credibility took a hit, one after another, for one reason or another, the Kejriwal-led party couldn't retain its thunder. It's USP. Now, with the CJP raising those very issues — schools and education — the AAP and its leaders are seen standing firmly behind the Dipke-led forum. Both on the ground and online.It might give AAP leaders some satisfaction, as many of these CJP leaders, including Dipke and co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka, were associated with the party.We are steering clear of the allegations that the CJP is AAP's B-team. What we are instead analysing is how the AAP has lent its thunder and support to the CJP, in one protest after another, in one fight after another. The support extended by Kejriwal, other senior AAP leaders and the party machinery to the CJP is noteworthy. The AAP has backed the CJP and its leaders whenever they have claimed attacks, intimidation or indifference from authorities while campaigning over schools and other issues related to youth. Kejriwal and AAP leaders have repeatedly amplified those claims, condemned alleged attacks and demanded action, often within hours of the CJP or its leaders posting about an incident. From Kejriwal defending Dipke and Ranka to Sanjay Singh and Saurabh Bharadwaj promoting CJP gatherings on X, the support has visibly been more than an occasional expression of solidarity.The latest instance came on August 30, when the official AAP handle on X was among the first accounts to amplify a new video of the 15-year-old girl who had earlier gone viral for using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the CJP's protest at Jantar Mantar. The girl had subsequently apologised and Modi had forgiven her, along with other young people who he said had abused him and his mother. In the latest video, the girl claimed that the continuing backlash because of the row had made her life very difficult.AAP AMPLIFIES 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL'S VIDEOThe minor first drew attention after a video of her abusing Modi at the Jantar Mantar went viral in June. On August 30, hours after the video featuring the girl surfaced, the AAP's X official handle amplified it in a few hours."Do not frighten someone so much that they lose their fear altogether," the handle said.The AAP alleged that the girl had been "hounded, threatened and forced to apologise to Modi" after her earlier appearance. It claimed that the targeting continued even after her apology and presented the latest video as evidence that she had decided to speak out again and "not back down this time".Soon, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh wrote a post on X. "This 15-year-old girl's life has been made miserable by Modi's troll army," Singh wrote in Hindi. "The Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy is fighting a 15-year-old girl. What a state of affairs."The speed with which the party and one of its most prominent parliamentarians rallied behind the minors associated with the CJP protest made the narrative reach a larger audience. While this is the latest example, several earlier instances also point to AAP lending its political thunder to the CJP.KEJRIWAL BACKED RANKA AFTER JAIPUR SCHOOL PROTEST ATTACKAnother example came on August 21, when CJP's Ranka alleged that he and his team were attacked while inspecting a school being run from what he alleged was a cattle shed in Rajasthan's Jaipur district.Ranka claimed that stones were thrown, car windows were smashed, clothes were torn and members of his team were assaulted. He blamed Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar and added that the CJP would not be intimidated.Within hours, Kejriwal amplified the allegation. "What is happening in this country?" he asked, accusing "BJP goons" of attacking CJP volunteers, tearing their clothes and smashing their vehicles."Was all this done merely to stop them from raising their voice for good education for children?" Kejriwal asked. "Why do they want to keep our children uneducated?"Remember? In the AAP early years, good schools, children's futures and education reform were central to Kejriwal's own political pitch. In siding with the CJP, Kejriwal appeared to hand Dipke's outfit access to a political narrative established by him.KEJRIWAL CONDEMNED ATTACK ON DIPKEThe August intervention, after Ranka and his aides were attacked in Jaipur, was not an isolated one. On June 15, Kejriwal strongly condemned an attack on CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke in Jaipur. Dipke was slapped several times by two men while CJP supporters carried him on their shoulders during a protest over the NEET-UG paper leak in Jaipur."I strongly condemn the attack on CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke," Kejriwal wrote on X. "Even if you don't agree with Dipke, it does not give you the licence to attack him."He also alleged that everyone knew which party the attackers belonged to and claimed that this was why no action would be taken against them.Through the post, Kejriwal condemned the violence. The post also seemingly positioned Kejriwal as a defender of Dipke while framing both the CJP and AAP as targets of the same opponent, the BJP. After the alleged attack, a common adversary, in all likelihood, brought the AAP and the CJP closer, it seems.RS MP SANJAY SINGH REGULARLY AMPLIFIES CJP CONTENTSanjay Singh has been among the most consistent AAP voices supporting the CJP and its campaigns.On August 15, reacting to the alleged attack on Ranka and CJP supporters in Jaipur, Singh said that "children and CJP workers" had been attacked for raising concerns about the condition of a school. Singh praised Ranka for reaching the spot and fighting for children's rights against what he called the BJP's "goonda government".A day later, Singh shared Ranka's remarks concerning an alleged attack in West Bengal's Bankura following the filming of a government school in poor condition. On August 17, he amplified an emotional video involving the attack on the family of a CJP supporter and urged people to stand up for children's education.His engagement has not been limited to reacting to alleged attacks. On July 21, Singh spoke about the CJP protest while taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. These interventions and remarks have helped the CJP's narrative and campaign messaging before the AAP's larger audience.AAP DELHI CHIEF SAURABH BHARADWAJ TAKES CJP ISSUES TO POLICEAAP's support for the CJP has not remained confined to tweets, retweets and statements. On July 28, Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj and party MLA Kuldeep Kumar approached New Delhi DCP Sachin Sharma and submitted a complaint at Parliament Street police station against a person named, Satyam Pandit.The complaint concerned two minor boys from Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly who were assaulted by Pandit while returning from the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar. Bharadwaj, saying that Pandit abused the boys and tried to incite religious hostility, and demanded his immediate arrest. In other words, the former Delhi minister took the matter arising from the CJP protest to the police himself.Satyam Pandit is a Ghaziabad-based right-wing activist and national president of the self-styled Hindu Veer Sena.After the CJP protests ended, Bharadwaj on July 31 also assured CJP protesters that the AAP would stand with them if they faced intimidation. In a post on X addressed to "Delhi GenZ", he offered the AAP's support to students. "Don't be scared, we will take care," he said while offering protection from those he described as "right-wing goons."He later praised journalists who had covered the CJP movement from its early days despite the backlash, saying the movement and the country would remain indebted to them.On August 5, amid questions surrounding the CJP's finances, Bharadwaj demanded that both the PM CARES Fund and CJP funds be publicly audited.WHY AAP SEEMS TO BE CHEERING THE CJPLook at these instances together. The AAP leaders have amplified CJP videos, defended its members and leaders after alleged attacks, offered the protesters protection and taken at least one complaint linked to the Jantar Mantar agitation directly to the police. AAP leaders have also made the CJP's campaigns on schools, examinations and youth part of its own political offensive against the BJP.Wasn't that the AAP's own turf?The CJP is organising the protests. Young leaders are leading them, even if they have political aspirations. There's nothing wrong in that. Interestingly, in a recent podcast, Sonam Wangchuk, whose leadership and 26-day hunger strike lent credibility to the CJP protests, said he believed its young leaders could eventually enter politics and there was nothing wrong in that.The AAP, meanwhile, is lending them reach, political recognition and the muscle of legitimacy. There's nothing wrong with that either. Standing up for what one believes is right is a key test of conviction. And conviction has a meaning when it is defended in public.And, it is an arrangement that resembles what our in-house columnist and satirist Kamlesh Singh suggests as the way forward for Indian political parties. "Andolan Apna Apna."- EndsPublished By: Sushim MukulPublished On: Sep 1, 2026 07:00 IST