Sonam Wangchuk says CJP organisers may have political ambitions, but that's acceptable if platform remains non-party

Sonam Wangchuk says CJP organisers may have political ambitions, but that's acceptable if platform remains non-party.

NEW DELHI: Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has said Abhijit Dipke and his fellow organisers of the Cockroach Janta Party movement appear to have political ambitions, but there is nothing objectionable in this as long as the student platform retains its non-party character. Wangchuk, in a Prakhar Gupta Xperience podcast, said Dipke and the others had not disclosed any plans to him and his view was based on his own assessment. “Political ambition is very normal,” he said. “Past political connections I don’t care about, present and future political aspirations are not a problem.” “They are not such saints that they want absolutely nothing and are doing all this entirely selflessly,” he said, referring to the possibility that the organisers had personal or political aspirations. Assessing their suitability for leadership, Wangchuk described the organisers as “well meaning”, “quite skilled” and “above average”. “Well meaning but unskilled” could create difficulties, while “very skilled but ill meaning” would pose a much greater danger, he said.

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Asked whether they could become corrupt, Wangchuk said he had seen no such indications. “People go through changes, and I hope they won’t,” he said. Wangchuk said the organisers could join an existing party or launch a new one later, but must not turn the CJP platform into their political vehicle. He said he had advised them to preserve it as a “neutral, apolitical pressure group”, arguing that this would help retain the trust of supporters who saw it as a students’ movement rather than an organisation aligned with BJP, Congress or AAP. Wangchuk acknowledged that his own standards sometimes led him to expect public figures to have no political ambition. That, he said, could be unrealistic because the organisers were ordinary people entitled to pursue political careers. Beginning such a career by championing an education-related cause could, in fact, be positive. He also expressed hope that participation in the movement would help them emerge as more mature and grounded politicians. “I am actually happy about that,” Wangchuk said of their taking up public issues.

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