Slapped on Arrival: CJP Leader Abhijeet Dipke Attacked at Jaipur's Shaheed Smarak

The Pink City had a rather dramatic welcome ready for Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday. The moment he arrived at the Shaheed Smarak for the CJP's much-awaited protest, a young man stepped forward from the crowd and slapped him four times . What followed was instant and furious. The crowd that had gathered to protest paper leaks and broken dreams turned on the attacker in seconds, raining kicks and punches on him before police intervened and took him into custody. Quite the opening act for a peaceful demonstration.

The CJP had pulled off a city-by-city march across the country, Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Jaipur was meant to be the next proud chapter. Instead, it became a headline for entirely different reasons.

The Rajasthan Police had initially denied permission for the protest citing law and order concerns, before eventually granting conditional clearance just hours before the event. The administration capped attendance at 800 and made it clear that legal action would follow if rules were violated. And yet, an attacker walked straight up to the founder.

In a post on X, Dipke condemned the assault. He said, "Physical attacks are a sign of fear and cowardice. We will continue to raise our voices peacefully. I am a follower of Gandhi and Ambedkar, and I will keep fighting this battle with peace and love. PS: Dharmendra Pradhan must resign!"

Police said two youths have been detained in connection with the incident and further investigation is underway. Whether this was spontaneous rage or something more calculated is a question that deserves an urgent, transparent answer.

The demonstration was organised as part of CJP's campaign seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in major examinations, including NEET, CBSE, CUET and SSC.

A youth movement fighting for accountability cannot be silenced by a slap. If anything, Tuesday's ugly moment at Shaheed Smarak may well send more young people marching toward Delhi's Jantar Mantar on June 20.