The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which built its identity around demanding accountability for examination failures, is now facing questions over whether that outrage has been applied selectively. While the student-led platform mounted a sustained nationwide campaign over the NEET-UG paper leak that culminated in the resignation of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, it has remained conspicuously quiet on examination controversies in Punjab and the ongoing Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) irregularities probe.
The contrast has fuelled criticism from political opponents and has raised broader questions about the consistency of CJP’s activism.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal has accused the CJP of functioning as the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) “B team”, alleging that it has ignored allegations involving the AAP government in Punjab while aggressively targeting the Centre. The outfit, founded by activist Abhijeet Dipke, has rejected such characterisations in the past, but on the Punjab and Jharkhand cases, its public response so far has been limited to saying it is “planning its response”.
The scrutiny comes after CJP enjoyed strong media attention following its launch in mid-May 2026. What began as online satire after a courtroom remark by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) quickly evolved into a nationwide student movement centred on the NEET paper leak and broader examination failures. Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das became familiar faces as students travelled from across the country to join weeks-long protests at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
That rapid mobilisation stands in sharp contrast to the party’s response to two Punjab and Jharkhand examination controversies unfolding around the same time.
MULTIPLE PAPER LEAKS IN AAP-RULED PUNJAB, BUT NO REACTION BY CJP
In Punjab, where the AAP has been in power for more than four years under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, opposition leaders have listed multiple alleged paper leaks and cheating scandals.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal recently claimed six major paper leaks in five years and pointed to large-scale cheating detected in a pharmacy officers’ examination on July 19. Maliwal accused AAP’s National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal of remaining silent on the issue, and alleged that CJP was created by Kejriwal’s associates and amplified through paid social-media campaigns.
The Punjab government has firmly rejected the charge of paper leaks, describing the pharmacy episode as a detected cheating racket involving electronic devices. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said no recruitment paper has been leaked under AAP rule. The factual dispute continues, but the allegations themselves have been public for days and weeks.
Punjab is set for Assembly elections in early 2027, barely six months from now. The AAP, which won a decisive majority in 2022, is seeking a second term amid opposition attacks on governance, recruitment, and examination integrity.
Paper-leak allegations, whether proven or contested, are already being framed as a test of the government’s credibility with young voters.
In this charged pre-election climate, any political outfit claiming to speak for students and exam aspirants faces heightened scrutiny over consistency. The CJP’s decision to study the Punjab situation rather than mobilise with the same urgency it showed on the NEET issue therefore carries extra weight.
EXAMINATION IRREGUALRITIES IN JHARKHAND IN NEWS, BUT CJP NOT VOCAL ABOUT IT
In Jharkhand, the CID has arrested at least eight people, including a former JPSC deputy examination controller and staff of the private agency that handled the examination process, in connection with alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission exams. Raids have been conducted, digital evidence seized, and the investigation is ongoing.
Results and schedules have been disrupted. This is a live case involving arrests and institutional failure.
Over these issues, the CJP has not organised protests, demanded resignations, or issued the kind of sustained public campaign it mounted over NEET.
When contacted, the party officials did not respond to calls and texts from India Today Digital.
WHY IS CJP MISSING IN ACTION OVER PUNJAB AND JHARKHAND?
The difference in speed at which the CJP mobilised is striking. When the NEET controversy erupted, CJP moved almost immediately. Its founder, Dipke, returned from Boston in the United States, the organisation formalised spokespersons, mobilised students from multiple states, and sustained pressure on the government for more than a month.
Now, however, only the party’s post-resignation video is going viral.
The same energy has not been visible in the Punjab or Jharkhand cases. Ranka and Das, the two most prominent public faces and the spokespersons of the CJP who negotiated with the Centre, have not offered detailed comments on either state controversy. Repeated calls and messages seeking their response on the alleged selective focus went unanswered.
This report will be updated when they respond to India Today Digital’s questions.
WOULD CJP NOT PROTEST AGAINST AAP, JMM?
The pattern invites a question that goes beyond any single party’s claims.
CJP presented itself as a youth platform against systemic failure in public examinations, not as a partisan vehicle. Its early messaging stressed accountability regardless of which government was in power.
Yet the silence, or at least the marked delay, on cases involving the AAP government in Punjab and the ongoing JPSC probe in Jharkhand creates the appearance of selective outrage.
Maliwal’s charge that CJP functions as an AAP soft extension might be contested, but the absence of comparable public pressure on these two files gives the allegation room to breathe.
There is also a consistency problem. CJP correctly highlighted how paper leaks destroy trust and ruin careers. That principle does not change depending on the political colour of the state government.
The CJP forced a rare high-level resignation of a Union Cabinet minister and put examination integrity on the national agenda. That achievement stands. But the same standard of urgency and public accountability seemingly does not apply when the government in question is AAP or other opposition parties.
Until the CJP issues a clear position on the Punjab allegations and the JPSC investigation, and explains the delay in responding with the same intensity it showed in May and June, the charge of selective outrage will continue to stick.
– Ends
Published By:
Anand Singh
Published On:
Jul 29, 2026 16:37 IST
