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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 8:56:24 pm

Political row splits 110-day-old CJP

Mumbai: In an abrupt development, the 110-day old Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founded by Maharashtra’s Abhijeet Dipke has reportedly split with a Gujarat-based activist Manish Brahmbhatt announcing a rival ‘CJP-Democratic’ – amid political accusations hurled at each other. Announcing the new faction in New Delhi today, Brahmbhatt claimed that the original CJP which emerged from a movement built on the blood and sweat of people subsequently transformed itself solely into a handpicked team...

Political row splits 110-day-old CJP

Mumbai: In an abrupt development, the 110-day old Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founded by Maharashtra’s Abhijeet Dipke has reportedly split with a Gujarat-based activist Manish Brahmbhatt announcing a rival ‘CJP-Democratic’ – amid political accusations hurled at each other. Announcing the new faction in New Delhi today, Brahmbhatt claimed that the original CJP which emerged from a movement built on the blood and sweat of people subsequently transformed itself solely into a handpicked team for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) President and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Their aim is to engage in political deals. They show no interest in fighting for the issues faced by students or people from other states; instead, acting merely at Kejriwal’s behest, they want to oppose the BJP only to support parties that are anti-BJP....,” declared Brahmbhatt. He asked why only a handful of people involved in the CJP are from the AAP though the movement had attracted people from all over the country and belonging to Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD and others. “Not a single volunteer or protester from those groups is included here. They utilised women, yet there is no female face – besides a spokesperson. They exploited Muslims and Sikhs, who opened langars and Gurudwaras, but they have no representation. Even students are kept out though it was a students' movement fighting against exam paper leaks,” said Brahmbhatt in a no-holds-barred attack on Dipke. Strongly refuting the charges, Dipke denied that CJP is controlled or funded by any political party, or functioning as a ’B Team’ for any other political entity. “Maharashtra CM says I am Congress' 'B' team; some others claim I am AAPs 'B' team... Actually we are the 'A' team of the students. We remain independent, work as a pressure group and committed to grassroots students issues and education reforms,” said Dipke today. Unfazed, Brahmbhatt accused Dipke of forming a “12-member team right from his home” without taking into confidence any of the original activists or persons linked with the CJP in the past nearly four months. “Nobody associated with the movement was consulted or invited… What criteria were used for these (12-strong) appointments? Eight persons linked to the AAP plus his female friends and college buddies, are inducted,” alleged Brahmbhatt, justifying the launch of CJP-D intended to mobilise the collective strength of the younger masses. He said activists had demanded five representatives from every state to prevent any single individual from taking unilateral decisions or behaving like a ‘dictatorial king’, but “the proposal was rejected” with Kejriwal – who suggested the idea for such a team - now allegedly hijacking the movement. Despite repeated attempts by The Perfect Voice, Dipke was not available for comments on the matter. Launched on May 16, by a Abhijeet Dipke, 30, the CJP sought to turn the ‘cockroach’ label for unemployed and politically conscious youth into a symbol of dissent and protest, bringing together students angry over examination-paper leaks and wider concerns about the education system and youth opportunities. The online movement quickly snowballed into a mass pressure group and semi-political youth movement, drawing support and attention from sections of mainstream political parties and celebrities. At that time, Dipke had described it as ‘a new platform for all Cockroaches” – hogging global attention - but barely 110-days later, it was hit with a purported vertical split.

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Being the first person from the private sector to be appointed as chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as part of the government’s lateral initiative, Madhabi Puri Buch also holds the honour of being the first woman to hold the top post as capital market regulator.

But the laurels that the former private sector banker enjoyed in her earlier stint with ICICI Bank, was marred with allegations that she and her husband were having a stake in offshore entities, which were used to artificially inflate shares of Adani group companies.

Terming the allegation as `character assassination, Buch clarified that all disclosures have already been furnished and the fund in question did not invest in any securities involving the Adani group.

When it rains, it pours. This allegation was subsequently followed by Congress Party allegation that Buch had received salary and post-retirement benefits from ICICI Bank after she quit the private sector bank.

In its clarification to the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank asserted that the payments made to Buch were purely retirement benefits after her exit from the bank and they were neither salary nor employee stock options.

Prior to these allegations, Buch tenure at SEBI was all about bringing in quick reforms on operational issues by changing the format of consultation paper to bring in larger responses digitally. Being data savvy, the rationale of her decisions were democratic based on big data analysis derived from the responses received to the consultation papers.

Further she bifurcated the duties of the SEBI staff between operations and enforcement, which were done by the same persons earlier. Having worked for the private sector in the capital market domain space, Buch had a better understanding of the subject compared to officers from the administrative service in the past that reflected even in her orders as a whole-time director at SEBI before becoming the chairperson. As a whole time director at SEBI, her orders on adjudication issues were more directional to the capital market space, according to experts in the compliance space. She was also quick to revamp the old provisions of the 90s at SEBI.

Being tech and data savvy, Buch enhanced regulatory surveillance and detection of market manipulation, insider trading and fraud while also emphasizing on strengthening corporate governance by introducing stricter rules for independent directors and enhancing disclosures for related-party transactions.

To put in perspective, the annual report of the capital market regulator in the just concluded financial year revealed that the number of investigations related to insider trading jumped to 175 in 2023-24 from 85 in the preceding year while probes related to front running jumped over three times to 83 from 24 in the preceding year.

Transparency in mutual funds by implementing measures to protect retail investors along with tightening norms for initial public offers, particularly in the SME platforms were some of her other positive initiatives including confirmation of denial of any market rumours within 24 hours for the top 100 listed companies which will be extended to top 250 companies from December 1. However increased transparency and compliance with tightening regulations led to increased operational costs for the market participants and hence faced resistance from certain quarters. Born in 1966, Buch completed her primary education in Mumbai and graduated with specialization in Mathematics from Delhi and later obtained a management degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In between, she got engaged to Dhawal Buch, a director at a consumer goods multinational at the age of eighteen and got married at the age of 21.

Besides ICICI Bank, Buch also worked as a lecturer at a college in England, worked at Greater Pacific Capital in Singapore and ICICI Securities as its CEO. She also worked as executive director on several private sector companies and as a consultant for New Development Bank (Brics Bank).

What now remains to be seen, is whether Buch, who survived the 26/11 terror attack when she along with her husband, was attending a meeting at Taj, be able to overcome the current ordeal. Keeping fingers crossed for the times to come.

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