New Delhi, Aug 20: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has faced questions over its claim that its “School Theek Karo” campaign influenced a Rajasthan government decision to reconstruct hundreds of dilapidated school buildings.CJP national coordinator Abhijeet Deepke recently highlighted an announcement by the Rajasthan Education Department regarding the reconstruction of more than 300 schools. He described it as an “impact” of the party’s campaign and praised co-coordinator Ashutosh Ranka and his team.
The campaign, launched by the CJP to highlight shortcomings in government schools, involves visits to educational institutions and raising issues related to infrastructure and basic facilities. The party has been focusing its activities on several states, including BJP-ruled Rajasthan.
However, a report cited in the source material said the Rajasthan government’s decision to rebuild the schools had been taken before the CJP’s campaign was launched in the state.According to the report, the Education Department’s announcement said that more than 300 dilapidated school buildings would be replaced with new structures under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
The proposed facilities include better classrooms, drinking water, toilets and other basic amenities.The announcement also mentioned plans for the construction of 10 new school buildings in Jaipur district.Deepke shared the department’s social media announcement and presented it as evidence of the campaign’s impact, tagging Ranka and appreciating the team.
The subsequent report, however, raised questions over the timing of the government’s decision and the CJP campaign. It stated that the reconstruction decision had already been taken in the previous month, before the campaign began in Rajasthan.If the timeline is correct, the government’s decision cannot be directly attributed to the CJP’s campaign, as the policy decision had already been made before the campaign’s intervention.
The episode has therefore triggered debate over the political practice of claiming credit for government decisions and the importance of verifying the chronology of announcements before linking them to a particular campaign.
The CJP has previously been involved in protests over education-related issues and has now sought to expand its campaign to government-school infrastructure and other public education concerns.
