00:00My first guest, who I spoke to a short while ago, is Saurav Das, one of the chief spokespersons of
00:05the Kokruj Janata Party.
00:07Saurav, appreciate you joining us. I know these are tough times for you.
00:10You're just out of hospital where you met Sonam Vangchuk.
00:15And do you want to tell us where your protests stand as of now?
00:21We are talking late this evening. Will these protests continue until tomorrow?
00:24Will Sonam Vangchuk's fast continue? What's the status on that front, Saurav? Can you give us an update first?
00:34See, as of now, the fast also continues. And the protests also continues.
00:42So the police has completely destroyed Jantramantar protest site, where our stage was, where everything was set up.
00:51So the police has completely destroyed that place.
00:54So right now, we are right next to that protest site, in the Jantramantar Road, very close to Kaila House.
01:01That is where we are stationed. And there are hundreds of people who are sitting in peacefully.
01:07And the police is probably trying to move them at this point.
01:11But everybody is fearless, and they know they are on the right side.
01:16But the police claims, Saurav, that the protests turned violent at some stage, both in the morning and then later
01:22in the afternoon.
01:22There was stone pelting. We can see visuals of that. Policemen have been injured.
01:27The police says they will file cases against those responsible.
01:29Who were these people?
01:31I mean, did the protests, which turned violent for a while, and led to tear gassing, who were the people
01:37responsible for this violence?
01:39Were they from the CJP or from somewhere else?
01:45Last night, Ashutosh Ranka had tweeted that, you know, there was a very old van, which was stationed very close
01:54to Jantramantar,
01:56where, you know, our volunteers had found many, many bags with stones.
02:01So we had put that out on social media as well.
02:04And when we met the police in the morning, we told the DCP that there is a suspicious van like
02:10this with a lot of stones in it.
02:12So we don't know who placed it there.
02:14We informed the police at night itself, but then they didn't take any action until we personally met the DCP
02:22and told them this in the early morning.
02:25You know, you're saying that there was a van there with stones since last night, which you had informed the
02:31cops.
02:31But isn't it possible that there were anti-social elements, people who had nothing to do with your original protest
02:38over Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation,
02:41who've now infiltrated this protest?
02:43That could be possible, isn't it?
02:47As is with any protest, the same script is repeated again and again.
02:53Anti-social elements might as well have tried to, you know, derail the protest.
02:57But overall, the protest was very peaceful.
03:01Of course, protests, there were a lot, lot of protesters.
03:05Some numbers say there were about a lakh protesters who were at New Delhi district.
03:09And I'm told the protests are still going on, not just in Jantramantar premises,
03:15but also at Janpath and Cannot place.
03:18So, you know, it was no longer about CJP only, it was all Sonam Vangchuk only.
03:24It was about the larger dissatisfaction with this government and its policies.
03:29You know, that's interesting.
03:30You're saying that the protests are no longer about Sonam Vangchuk or CJP and its demands only.
03:35But you and Ashutosh Ranka met J.P. Nadda, the BJP leader and union minister.
03:40And many are questioning what prompted you all to go and meet the ministers
03:44at a time when your fellow protesters were out on a march.
03:48Was this an attempt by the government to reach out to you belatedly?
03:52Or was it you who reached out to the government?
03:54Can you explain this meeting that took place and what happened at your meeting with Mr. Nadda?
04:01See, we've been trying to talk with the government from day one.
04:05From the day one of a certain protest on 20th June, we told the police that, you know,
04:11they should be opening a communication channel with the government.
04:14However, the issue is, you know, as is with any other protest,
04:19the government simply does not want to listen to us, listen to the protesters' demands.
04:25They don't want to engage with anyone.
04:27They don't like dissent at all.
04:29But however, you know, we consider it a major, major victory for our protest,
04:34for our movement, that the government itself reached out to us last evening
04:39and was making attempts to, you know, get one of its representatives to talk to us.
04:46They initially started with the district magistrate,
04:48but we said that, you know, he has absolutely no powers over the issues
04:52that we are protesting about.
04:54And we were very adamant about meeting the prime minister.
04:57However, we settled on a senior minister.
05:00And that's how we met J.P. Nadda.
05:03But what happened at that meeting?
05:05Are you still sticking to your demands for the education minister's resignation?
05:09Is that the core demand that is sustaining the agitation?
05:13Because the government seems to have ruled that out.
05:17All the kind of brutality that we saw today from the administration side,
05:23it has only resolved, it has made our resolve even stronger.
05:28It has made our demand even stronger.
05:31We are asking that Dharmendra Pradhan be sacked from the cabinet immediately.
05:36Along with that, we have demanded that Sonam Vangchuk be released from the hospital.
05:41And number three, we have asked that all families whose children have died by suicide,
05:47who need aspirants, all of them should be getting one crore compensation each.
05:52So we have put forward these demands before J.P. Nadda in a letter and orally also.
05:57We were in his office at his residence for about four hours,
06:01out of which we met only for 15 minutes.
06:04And we are yet to hear from them, which is unfortunate, you know.
06:09So when you met, did Mr. Nadda give you any assurances on these three demands that you put before him?
06:18He has assured us that he'll discuss it with his senior cabinet members.
06:24I'm assuming that would be Modi and Shah, because that is where all the power is centralized.
06:30So, but after, he hasn't committed anything as of now.
06:35It's 8, 11 p.m. and we haven't heard from him at all.
06:40You know, Saurabh, there will be those though who will say,
06:42are you blackmailing or trying to blackmail the government?
06:45You cannot expect any government to decide on a resignation of a minister based on street protests
06:50or what the Kokruj Janata Party wants.
06:53How do you respond to that?
06:54Are you blackmailing this government at the moment with these street protests?
07:00But does the government have powers to take away lives of 20 plus need students
07:04who died at their hands due to their broken, corrupt education system?
07:08Do they take permission from all of us when it comes to issues of such nature?
07:13They haven't made a great education system.
07:16The education system is failing these children.
07:18And when they are out on the streets, it's their democratic duty to listen to them,
07:22engage with them and listen and implement whatever they demand to the extent possible.
07:28But to take a completely deaf and dumb approach to protesters, what would ultimately happen?
07:36People would show up in large numbers on the roads and that is what has happened today.
07:40So, are you telling me therefore, based on what I'm hearing from you,
07:43that your resolve is strengthened, the protests continue, the dharna, the fasts in some form will continue
07:49come tomorrow morning, are you going to now go back to the streets and will we see similar scenes
07:55or have you all pressed a pause button till you hear from the government?
08:02See, our protest is continuing at the moment.
08:05We are hearing, we are waiting to hear from the government
08:08and we will take a decision after we hear from them or don't hear from them.
08:14We are still waiting.
08:15But the movement will definitely continue in any case.
08:19The movement is about not just exam paper leaks or education sector reforms,
08:24but about every youth-centric issue in the country today.
08:29So, we will be going nationwide.
08:31We will be talking to the young people of this country,
08:34hearing them out and bring something, some great manifesto for them in the new future.
08:42You know, let me ask you one final question.
08:44You know, there are your critics who say that the CJP has been formed as a front
08:48for some political party or the other.
08:50I've heard congressmen in particular off the record telling me,
08:53you know, this was part of the deep state.
08:55Some even say that the BJP has propped you up
08:58and that the CJP is out to undermine the Congress
09:00and Rahul Gandhi's efforts to raise the issue of need paper leaks,
09:04that there is something not quite right about this movement.
09:07How do you respond to your critics?
09:11Rajdeep, it's quite funny because none of these narratives have stuck to us.
09:17For the past two months since we've been alive,
09:20there have been narratives about us getting foreign funding,
09:23funding from Soros, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
09:26doubts about our intentions on what we want to do.
09:29There were, you know, several jokes and narratives run in previous days
09:34saying there are only 50 to 100 people showing up at the protest.
09:37But today you saw entire Delhi showing up on the road
09:41and there were more than one lakh people who had joined us.
09:45So none of these narratives have stuck.
09:47They are all pretty false and laughable.
09:50The Congress might have, if they have, you know,
09:54internal reservations about us,
09:56we are happy to talk to them and clear the air.
09:58But as we have done with everyone else,
10:01including people in the opposition,
10:04and you saw all these opposition parties coming and supporting us
10:07in the many days since we've been sitting at Jantar Mantar.
10:11I'm going to leave it there, Saurabh Das.
10:13Good to have you on the show.
10:14As I said, you are right there on the ground.
10:18Thanks very much for joining us.
10:19Stay safe.
10:20Saurabh Das of the Kokruj Janata Party.
Comments