MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday termed as “misleading” a social media post claiming that ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said there was no foreign funding behind the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led youth protest in Delhi.The CJP stir, followed by demonstrations in other parts of the country, led to the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET (UG) question paper leak and other related issues.“The post is misleading and misrepresents the statement of the spokesperson,” the MEA’s fact-check unit wrote on X, referring to the statement attributed to Jaiswal.It also shared Jaiswal’s actual response to a query on allegations of foreign funding behind the CJP-led demonstrations.

“Madhu, regarding the point you raised about allegations of foreign funding and other such claims in connection with the ongoing protests, I would like to say that I do not have any information on this matter to share with you at this time,” he replied during a weekly media briefing on Friday.The clarification came in response to a viral post on X claiming that Jaiswal had said, “I have been asked about the funding of the CJP protest many a time. I want to say that our intelligence & investigation reveals there is no foreign funding in it.”CJP, an online satirical platform, was formed following a remark by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, in which he described a section of unemployed youth as “cockroaches.” The CJI later clarified that he had been misquoted.The allegations of foreign funding have largely been linked to the fact that Abhijit Dipke, who founded the outfit, is a former student of Boston University. Dipke founded CJP in Boston and returned to India in June to lead its demonstrations seeking accountability over the NEET (UG) paper leak in May.The demonstrations peaked on July 20 with the group’s “Chalo Sansad” march to Parliament, where protesters faced police action. The crackdown drew criticism from opposition parties, while the police maintained that the protest had turned violent.The 37-day-long agitation culminated in Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday afternoon. The CJP called off its stir after the government accepted all its demands.Union minister Pralhad Joshi has been assigned additional charge of Pradhan’s ministry of human resource development.