CBSE OSM whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant urges CJP founder to focus on real issues

Ahead of the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) planned protest in Delhi against the NEET paper leak issue, the CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has been advised by Sarthak Sidhant, one of the key whistleblowers of CBSE’s OSM issue, to ensure that the movement is driven by a substantial cause rather than “internet attention”.

Call for a concrete cause

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Sidhant further stated that movements led by students must transform outrage into tangible action. Although he declined to be “political”, Sidhant said that the CJP movement, which started after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s “cockroach” remark at lawyers with fake degrees, should have an "actual cause".

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"Like I did some investigation, Nisarg did some investigation - we put it out to help students," he said, referring to “ethical hacker” Nisarga Adhikary and Vedant Shrivastava, who are the two other whistleblowers of the OSM issue.

Cautions against armchair activism

Sidhant also urged Dipke not to lapse into armchair activism, adding that he would not support a movement if it’s only aimed at gaining online popularity.

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“Yes, internet activism is okay. What I did, what Nisarg did, and what Vedant did was internet activism in general. But I would say they are sitting on their back seats, and if they're not doing anything, they're not actively participating in anything; that is a bad thing,” said Sidhant.

OSM probe and public disclosure

Sidhant, 17, uploaded his findings on the alleged irregularities in CBSE's OSM procurement process to his personal website after spending what he described as several days examining tender records available on the Central Public Procurement portal.

The disclosures came amid scrutiny of the OSM system following a decline in CBSE's pass percentage and complaints from some students regarding errors, mismatches and result-related mix-ups.

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In a blog post titled ‘How CBSE rewrote rules to favour Coempt EduTeck’, Sidhant alleged that the board altered eligibility conditions and technical criteria over the course of three separate tender rounds in ways that ultimately worked in favour of Hyderabad-based Coempt EduTeck Private Limited, which secured the contract.

“This is a story of how a massive public institution deliberately played with students' futures by rewriting its own rulebook,” Sidhant wrote in his blog's opening.

Parliamentary committee appearance

Sidhant was earlier called to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports.

According to media reports, he informed the panel that CBSE had issued three tenders for the OSM project.