CJP Volunteers Held in Guwahati During School Review Drive

Assam Police detained Cockroach Janta Party co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and members of his team in Guwahati on Sunday. The group had arrived to address its first regional volunteers’ meet-up in the state capital. According to a statement from the organisation, police barricaded the planned venue and intercepted attendees. Ranka had reached Guwahati a day earlier. The CJP said authorities also deployed tear-gas equipment. Exact numbers of those detained and the police stations involved were not immediately clear from the group’s statement. Ranka spoke to the media after the detention. He said the action stemmed from concerns over the group’s plan to review state-run schools. “Himanta Biswa Sarma is scared that if we show the reality of schools in Assam, the country will come to know about their condition,” he stated. He also referred to other issues including land and forest rights in Kaziranga. The Cockroach Janta Party has been running its School Thik Karo campaign for several weeks. Volunteers visit government schools, check basic facilities such as classrooms, drinking water, toilets, benches and mid-day meals, and document what they find. The effort began after the group’s earlier focus on examination reforms and has expanded to different states. In Assam the meet-up was meant to organise local volunteers for similar ground-level work. CJP has said the campaign and related outreach will continue in the state. It has demanded the immediate release of Ranka and the other volunteers and asked for an explanation of the blockade and cancellation of the original venue. Parents and teachers in many government schools often point to shortages of infrastructure and basic amenities. Citizen-led checks of this kind aim to bring those gaps into public view. How authorities respond to such efforts will shape the space available for open discussion on school quality. For students who rely on these institutions, the condition of classrooms, water supply and sanitation remains a daily concern. The detention adds a fresh layer to the conversation around accountability in public education. Whether the CJP’s planned inspections in Assam move forward or face further restrictions will become clearer in the coming days.