The Business Canvas

The recent chain of events regarding the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in the Indian political system have shown how the youth of this country has become increasingly fed up of those holding the power.

And this is not something completely new or unexpected. For years we have seen a pattern in the political corridors. Anyone who tries to raise their heads in defiance with some government decision or policy is branded as a foreign agent working with some secret motive to destabilise the nation.

Although the agenda was the same this time, the outcome wasn’t. The country saw the ‘Gen-Z’ get mobilised in such a manner that all the parties were left dumbfounded on how to approach this increasingly flammable issue.

So let us take a brief look at how it all began.

The Building Frustration

Competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, JEE, and NEET have always been the key to a better life for a majority of the Indian youth. The dream to succeed in life by making it through such exams is seen across the economic spectrum by the rich and poor alike.

So when the last few years showed us how common the paper leaks were, and the highly insensitive approach of the Government in tackling them or even taking basic accountability, it was only natural that the patience of the public started to get weaker with time.

With even the CBSE board exams not remaining safe now, it was the final nail in the coffin. People were flabbergasted at how lightly this was all being taken.

Vedant Shrivastava, the CBSE class 12th student who merely posted on social media regarding his Physics answer sheet getting swapped with someone else, got branded as a Pakistani by a top media person working for the Doordarshan.

All of this just because his X account’s location was based in ‘South Asia’.

The ‘Cockroach’ Remark

While the NEET fiasco was happening, Hon. Chief Justice of India Mr. Surya Kant made a remark regarding people who hold fake degrees in the profession of law and go on to become either Media, Social Media, or RTI activists, comparing them to ‘cockroaches’.

While the remark was not intended towards the general youth, it served as a major catalyst. The youth of the country, already frustrated by the paper leaks, unemployment, and lack of accountability from the authorities, took the CJI’s remarks as a personal insult, turning all of this into a satirical online protest against the establishment.

CJP Is Founded

Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian student pursuing his MS from Boston University in the US, saw this as an opportunity and created a satirical social media handle and website by the name of the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’.

While it initially started as a joke, the people resonated so intensely with it that in mere days, its social media presence got larger than both the BJP and the Congress Party.

The ‘Online’ Tag

Many so-called political pundits were quick to dismiss its credibility, proving former connections of the founder with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Others said that since this was an online movement, there was a high possibility of it becoming irrelevant after a few days once all the buzz died down.

But it seemed like against all odds, the CJP handle continued to grow, with even non-supporters joining in just so that they could make their voices heard to a government that seemed increasingly deaf to hear any sort of pleas.

India’s Gen-Z Protest?

The makers of the CJP decided that it would be a good idea to materialize the online movement into the real world. The ‘party’ created for satire quickly appointed its own spokespersons who conducted a press conference on June 3rd to announce a protest at Jantar Mantar three days later.

On June 6th, the so-called cockroaches began swarming the iconic site in Delhi, taking flowers, books and cockroach masks with them.

It was repeatedly communicated to them to beware of any sort of miscreants and to keep the whole thing completely peaceful. In fact, they were asked to bring the flowers so that they could be given to the police officers and security personnel who had to do their duty in the scorching sun.

Those in support of the government were quick to put the ‘anti-national’ tag on the protestors, claiming that they were being funded by foreign powers to defame the nation.

Many expected the day to fail even before it begun.

Did it fail? No.

A Whopping Success?

While early attempts to discredit the movement seemed to be gaining ground, a completely different picture had been painted by the afternoon. Several protestors arrived on the scene with their masks, books and flowers, putting forward their main demand for the resignation of the Education Minister in view of the recent mismanagement.

Not only that, the movement gained the support of prominent innovator and activist Sonam Wangchuk, giving it more credibility than ever before.

Abhijeet Dipke also returned back from the US, and surprisingly, he was given instant permission to protest by the Delhi Police right there in the airport, a rare sight in today’s scheme of things.

The Hesitation of the Congress

One may expect that a protest of such scale after so long in India would be heavily supported by the Indian National Congress, which is the chief opposition party of the country, with 99 seats in the Lok Sabha.

But the party decided to keep its distance, citing that the CJP was nothing more than an extension of the AAP to gain popularity with the youth.

Meanwhile, the Indian Youth Congress and the NSUI have been doing their own protest regarding this same issue over many parts of India as well.

Prominent Congress leaders like Deepender Singh Hooda have also joined in, and credit where due, they are behaving like a true opposition after a long time, standing up to the government, forcing it to look inside it’s conscience to take some sort of accountability.

Did the Govt Promote the CJP Protest?

A wild but not completely impossible theory has been making rounds around the internet regarding the whole CJP protest. It is being said that the BJP govt. at the centre deliberately let this protest happen without any hiccups.

The ease with which Dipke was given the permission to join in right there at the Airport is being used as a circumstantial evidence to this.

The theory is that by promoting the CJP movement, the government wants the public to feel like they are still part of a vibrant system where everyone is free to protest against the regime, hence letting off some steam and anger in the process.

While doing that, it also wants to take away people’s attention from the protest being organised by the Congress where actual water cannons are being used on the protestors and political leaders, making India’s chief opposition party even more weak and irrelevant.

Conclusion

Whatever may be the case, one thing is clear that the Gen-Z as well as a large section of Millenials is increaingly frustrated by the gaping holes in the system and the reluctance or indifference of those in power to fix those holes.

The problem is not party-specific as well. While the BJP is in power right now, the Congress also has its fair share of scams and mismanagement to show for itself during it’s own time, especially in the era of UPA-II.

The only possible way to solve this in the long-run is for the people to stop thinking that their reponsibility towards democracy ends after voting for their representative.

Democracy is a very expensive luxury to have, and the public must not get lazy in continuing to behave in a non-violent anti-establishment way to always question the decisions of their own government so that accountability is maintained.

With the Education Minister showing no signs of resigning, it will be interesting to see if the CJP launches a more nation-wide move, and if the INDIA Bloc decides to join them as well.