Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday criticised the Centre’s decision to block the messaging app Telegram ahead of the NEET retest, saying it was akin to shutting down a road because of complaints of potholes instead of repairing it.

“A re-examination for NEET is taking place, but students’ suicides have not stopped. Five more students have committed suicide in the past 48 hours,” claimed Dipke, speaking to reporters at his village, Santuk Pimpri in Hingoli district of Maharashtra, before leaving for a CJP protest in Delhi.

Asked about the temporary ban on Telegram before the June 21 NEET reexamination for undergraduate medical courses, he said, “This is like closing a road because there are potholes instead of repairing it….Banning Telegram makes no sense.” To a question about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking up students’ cause, Dipke said, ”I have not talked to him so far. But all those leaders who care for students and (think that) paper leaks are harming the future of the country, they should come forward and stand with the students.”