Sonam Wangchuk said he told Dipke, Das and Ranka to keep the student movement free of political agendas despite any future political ambitions.

Updated on: Aug 30, 2026, 15:09:42 IST

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Activist Sonam Wangchuk said that the founders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have political ambitions, something he assessed during the Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi. However, Wangchuk added that having political ambitions is not wrong and that he would like to see more young leaders join political parties or form their own.

Wangchuk said that the CJP founders are not saints and that he was sure they have some sort of political ambition, which is not a bad thing.

"As far as their political ambitions are concerned, I think they do have political ambitions. I have assessed them quite closely, and I believe they certainly have political ambitions. And perhaps there is nothing wrong with that either. They did not tell me that they have political ambitions. This is my assessment of them. They are not saints who do not want anything out of this. I am sure there are political ambitions, and there is nothing wrong with that," Wangchuk said in a podcast with Prakhar Gupta.

The 59-year-old said that when he joined the student movement, he was told by many critics that CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had come from the Aam Aadmi Party, but that did not bother him as there is nothing wrong with having worked with a political party in the past.

Wangchuk asked CJP to not give any political colour to students movement

Wangchuk, who worked closely with Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka during the nearly two-month-long protest seeking the ouster of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister, said that he had told them they might have political ambitions in the future, but for now, they should ensure that the platform was not used to push any party's political agenda. He said he was happy that they stuck to it.

“Throughout the time I was on that stage, I kept telling them that any of you may have political ambitions, and it is actually a good thing to have young and emerging leaders. But maintain the sanctity of this platform. Keep it neutral, apolitical and a pressure group, because that way you will be able to achieve much more,” Wangchuk said.

He told Dipke and co that the student movement was a platform that people did not see as belonging to the BJP, Congress or AAP; they saw it as a student movement, and it should not be given a political colour.

“I was happy to see that they maintained it that way. As for having political ambitions, that is very normal. If you start your career by taking up such issues, I think that is a good thing,” he said.

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