WITH a modest weekend rally in the national capital, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) launched from the United States by a young techie hailing from Maharashtra, has ‘landed’ on the Indian soil. The peaceful congregation at Jantar Mantar – not far from Parliament – comprised no more than a few thousand youths drawn from the national capital. But it carried a message to the nation and, obviously, a threat to the wayward establishment. The rally heard the CJP raising the demand, among other things, that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign in view of the massive bungling vis-à-vis the NEET test and the CBSE exam – systems that are symbolic of the incompetence of the establishment. The principal opposition, the Congress party, too had raised the demand a while ago, but when CJI did it, it drew significant new attention. It now gives the government no more than a week’s time to do so.
It’s premature to gauge the influence of a movement started online a month ago even as the campaign has won massive response from netizens, with the size of young techie Abhijeet Dipke’s fans and his CJP’s support base rising to more than 20 million against the BJP’s nine million online followers. This, so far, is the only proof of the new party’s relevance. Online support does not suffice. Support on the ground is what makes a political establishment credible. It is clear however that Dipke is not being whimsical. That the activist has done some mental homework is all too clear. Significantly, he carried with him a copy of BR Ambedkar’s autobiography as he walked out of the Delhi airport and travelled to Jantar Mantar, where he spoke up for the students and youth, who have “not sold themselves out” to the establishment like many others. Equally significantly, he and the CJP demand that the BJP stop the politics of dividing Hindus and Muslims, and instead concentrate on an agenda of mass uplift. His call to his followers was to raise slogans supporting, not him, but the Mahatma and Ambedkar; and oppose “communal” politics”. The die is cast.
The CJP is banking on the mass discontentment against the establishment, especially among the aspirational, jobless youths and students. They are largely orphaned as the established political outfits do not care for them. They are a large, unorganised force. But it will be an uphill task for the CJP to harness this discontent and turn it into an anti-establishment offensive. The run-of-the mill politicians are waiting in the wings to undercut new entities that seek to upstage them. Notably, however, the Total Revolution campaign by Jaiprakash Narain in the 1970s uprooted Indira Gandhi from power and changed the political equations. It led to the formation of the Janata Party that won power and formed the government. It did not have the backing of the Internet. The Anti-Corruption movement, initiated by Gandhian Anna Hazare created a mass frenzy aided by the Internet in 2013, but it soon died out. The fate of the CJP is unpredictable though the right conditions exist here for a new upheaval.
