Tharoor says Congress should learn from CJP:Rise above caste, class and focus on common Indians, middle class

Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday that the Congress party should learn from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). He said the Congress should move beyond caste and class and focus on issues that affect ordinary people. Tharoor made the remarks at a time when the Congress is increasing its focus on reaching out to OBCs and caste-based representation. He said the party needs to look beyond the interests linked to caste, religion, class and other groups. In an interview with News18, Tharoor said the Congress should also focus on issues affecting ordinary people, the middle class and professionals. These are issues that affect Indians across caste and religious lines. Tharoor says, ‘Need to focus on those being ignored’ Tharoor said, “I have been saying for some time that we need to move beyond different interests linked to caste, religion, faith, tribal communities or any particular group. At the same time, we also need to focus more on areas that we have been ignoring.” Tharoor said exams affect everyone. People also face everyday problems such as inflation, rising prices and poor civic facilities in cities. CJP raised an issue beyond caste and religion at Jantar Mantar Speaking about CJP’s protests, Tharoor said the Cockroach Janata Party raised an issue at Jantar Mantar that had nothing to do with caste, religion, language, state or faith. As a result, it received support from people across different sections. He said, “All political parties need to learn from this. Personally, I believe this is a lesson we can adopt. I am not speaking on behalf of any party, nor am I speaking against any party.” The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) is a satirical movement. It was started by Abhijeet Dipke following a remark by CJI Surya Kant. CJP had protested against the NEET paper leak. Protests were later held across the country, and eventually Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had to resign. Tharoor had called for Congress to join the protest When Tharoor was asked whether the Congress should have officially joined CJP’s protest, he said he had advocated that the party should participate. He said, “I had suggested that we should join it. Both the CJP protest and Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike succeeded in capturing people’s imagination and attention.” Tharoor said he was told that the reason the Congress did not join the protest was a letter sent by the CJP leadership to the party. He said the letter contained some objectionable remarks. He said, “Because of this, the Congress decided to stay away from them. You can understand that every organisation has its own institutional interests. If the Congress felt that these people were against the party as an organisation, why would the Congress associate itself with them?” ​