CBSE whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant has weighed in on the growing popularity of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), saying student-led movements should be driven by a genuine cause rather than online visibility alone.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the 17-year-old said he did not want to get involved in politics but stressed that any campaign launched by students must be rooted in meaningful issues affecting young people.
His remarks come as CJP, a satirical online movement founded by Abhijeet Dipke, continues to attract attention among students and social media users. The group recently announced plans for a public mobilisation over education-related concerns.
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Commenting on activism, Sidhant distinguished investigative work and trend-driven online campaigns. “Like I did some investigation, Nisarg did some investigation, we put it out to help students,” he told HT, referring to fellow student activists Nisarga Adhikary and Vedant Shrivastava.
While not dismissing digital activism, Sidhant argued that online engagement should be accompanied by real participation and efforts to address issues on the ground.
“Yes, internet activism is okay. What I did, what Nisarg did, and what Vedant did was internet activism in general. But I would say they are sitting on their back seats, and if they’re not doing anything, they’re not actively participating in anything; that is a bad thing,” he said in the interview.
Sidhant, Adhikary, and Shrivastava became prominent figures in recent months after raising concerns about CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and alleged discrepancies in the evaluation process. Their findings sparked wider discussions among students and eventually drew the attention of policymakers.
The whistleblower’s comments are being seen as a call for issue-based activism as online movements such as CJP increasingly seek to translate digital support into public action.
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