Cockroach stir off to a flying start, spreading

Civil Society News, New Delhi

Swarms of supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) descended on Jantar Mantar in central Delhi on Saturday to protest against exam paper leaks and demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the CJP, flew in from Boston in the morning amid high drama that included a visible beefing up of security at the airport and the rest of Lutyens Delhi where the power elite reside.

There were fears that Dipke would be arrested and the protest scuttled by the Modi government which is not known to be tolerant of such popular outbursts.

In the event, neither happened. The CJP was given permission to hold the event and Dipke went straight from Terminal 3 at the airport to Jantar Mantar where later in the day he was joined by Sonam Wangchuk who arrived from Ladakh having earlier signed up as a member of CJP.  

Dipke exhorted his followers to peacefully and lawfully take on the government by asking for a foolproof examination system. Resignation of the education minister is the key demand of the CJP since Pradhan has presided over several aborted exams and disrupted the lives and careers of young people.

 The CJP is an online party which came together through social media when the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, in a court hearing referred to young people as cockroaches, a remark which he later said had been misunderstood.

But the idea of cockroaches coming together to take on the establishment caught the imagination of young people online and more than a million signed up with the CJP in no time.

They wanted to be heard about the weaknesses in the education system, repeated cancellation of exams because of corruption leading to exam questions getting known, student suicides and more. The CJP for them is a vehicle for getting accountability.

Before the protest, the big question also was whether online numbers and angst would transform into crowds on the ground.

The protest in Delhi showed it is possible. The CJP has drawn not just the young but also citizens of different ages who believe that the future of the young depends on the sanctity of the education system.  

Present at Jantar Mantar were people from all walks of life. There were students, parents, elderly folks and sympathizers who felt they just had to show up.

They began trickling in at around 9 am and over the day numbers and decibel levels grew. It was a feisty and irreverent atmosphere.

Posters and slogans denounced not just the education minister but the performance of the Modi government in general.    

Dipke stressed that the CJP protest, though clearly political, will only be peaceful.

“Ours is a peaceful placing of our demands before the government. They will have to listen to us. Everything we do will be peaceful and within the Constitution. It will be for nation building,” he said.

People came to the protest because they felt it was timely. Many did not want to give their full names or addresses or the jobs they did. But they were eager to be present.

Renu who works for a company said: “I’m not a student but I am here for the future of my children. Just look at the state of the education system in India. What kind of opportunities are we giving India’s young. This is the time to speak up.”

Rajpal had come from Rajasthan. “People pass exams after studying hard and then the exams are cancelled later and no one is accountable. Look at the suicide rate among students. And it is not just education, but governance in general under Modi, whether it’s his foreign policy or economic policy.”

Over the past 14 years there has been little tolerance shown by the Modi government for protests. Jantar Mantar has been out of bounds for activists. Permission for the CJP protest comes as a surprise.

But the government tried to do all it could to stare down the CJP. The venue itself was full of police so that anyone showing up there would think twice. On Saturday morning both the leading newspapers in Delhi, known to tow the government’s line, had virtually no mention of Dipke arriving or the plans for the protest — though social media was brimming with videos and other chatter including a statement by both Dipke and Sonam Wangchuk.

Fresh in people’s minds was also the heavy hand with which people protesting against air pollution were recently treated. They were gruffly rounded up, arrested and they continue to battle charges against them.