Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday launched a nationwide public outreach campaign titled 'Kya Bolti Public?', saying the initiative aims to directly engage with citizens and identify the issues affecting their daily lives.
Announcing the campaign, Dipke said its first focus would be the rising cost of education, arguing that school, college and coaching fees have become unaffordable for a large section of Indian families.
"Education reform will be our first issue. We believe education has become unaffordable in the country. Annual school fees range from ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh for Class 1, excluding donations," he said.
Questioning how middle- and lower-income families manage such expenses, Dipke said many parents were being forced into financial distress to ensure quality education for their children.
He alleged that soaring college and coaching fees were pushing households into debt and said the campaign would seek public support for reforms aimed at making education more affordable.
"We want to free families from this burden. Parents should not feel financially crippled if they wish to provide higher education to their children," he said.
Invoking Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Dipke argued that education is a fundamental right and should remain accessible to all sections of society.
"It is a fundamental right according to Dr Ambedkar, but over the years education has increasingly become a business rather than a public service," he said.
The 'Kya Bolti Public?' campaign is expected to involve direct interaction with citizens across the country, allowing the party to collect feedback on major public issues before deciding its future course of action.
The outreach programme comes days after the CJP announced that it would step away from electoral politics and instead function as a political pressure group, focusing on public mobilisation and issue-based campaigns.
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