Money power drives elections, CJP convenor Dipke alleges after DUSU results

• CJP convenor Abhijeet Dipke alleged that money power influenced student elections after the ABVP won three of four central DUSU posts

• He accused university authorities of treating student groups unequally and announced a campaign demanding the resignation of MPSC Chairman Vivek Bhimanwar

• Dipke also raised concerns about student mental health and conditions in tribal residential schools following his Vidarbha tour

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) convenor Abhijeet Dipke has alleged that money plays a decisive role in elections, citing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s victory in the Delhi University Students’ Union polls.

The RSS-affiliated ABVP won three of the four central panel positions in the election held following the recent Gen Z protests led by the CJP. It secured the posts of president, secretary and joint secretary, while the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India failed to win any of the four seats.

Responding to questions about the result on Sunday evening, Dipke claimed that candidates and campaigners in Delhi University arrived in high-end cars costing crores of rupees.

“Money works in elections and nothing else. Those who campaign in DU come in Rolls Royce, which is worth crores of rupees. They come in Audi, BMW. So, money works there,” he said.

Dipke also supported Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s concerns about the BJP-led government allegedly promoting people with particular ideological affiliations.

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, Dipke accused its Vice-Chancellor, Kumud Sharma, of favouring the ABVP and acting against students who opposed the RSS ideology.

He claimed that police cases had been registered against more than 50 students since Sharma assumed office. According to Dipke, students from Dalit and Adivasi communities faced action for staging protests, while ABVP members were allegedly spared even when they locked university gates.

“It is a roadmap to make institutions a shakha of RSS,” he alleged. There was no immediate response from Sharma, the university or the ABVP to his claims.

Turning to concerns surrounding competitive examinations in Maharashtra, Dipke claimed that students were losing confidence in the recruitment system.

He said Maharashtra Public Service Commission aspirants had been protesting and demanding the resignation of commission Chairman Vivek Bhimanwar over allegations of corruption.

The CJP and MPSC aspirants would soon begin an online campaign titled “Bhimanwar Rajinama Dya”, or “Bhimanwar, resign”, Dipke announced. He said participating students would highlight their allegations against the chairman and explain why they believed he should step down.

Bhimanwar’s response to the allegations was not immediately available.

Dipke also spoke about the death by suicide of an IIT Bombay student who was found hanging in his hostel room on Friday evening. According to officials, the student died hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone and ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination.

Describing the incident as painful, Dipke said the circumstances surrounding it reflected a wider loss of faith among students in the education system. He argued that an allegation of cheating could not justify a student taking such an extreme step and called for greater emphasis on mental health counselling and institutional support.

Dipke further raised concerns about the condition of tribal residential schools that he visited during a recent tour of Vidarbha.

Despite receiving substantial government funding, some schools allegedly lacked beds and adequate bathroom facilities, he claimed. Referring to the reported deaths of three students from snakebites in Gadchiroli, he said children were still being made to sleep on the floor.

He also alleged that girls were forced to bathe in the open and that boys’ bathrooms lacked roofs and doors.

Dipke said the CJP’s “Adivasi School Thik Karo” campaign would continue and eventually be expanded across the country, including Gujarat.

Commenting separately on the Election Commission’s decision to freeze the Trinamool Congress’s name and symbol, Dipke used sarcasm to accuse the poll body of favouring the ruling BJP.

He said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar might as well join the BJP, dissolve all Opposition parties and freeze their symbols so that only one party contested and won elections.

With PTI inputs