DC Edit | The ‘Cockroach’ Spectre Haunts Politics In India
“A specter haunts Europe – the specter of Communism,” wrote Karl Marx in the iconic opening sentence of the Communist Manifesto. Almost two centuries later, another ghost haunts the traditional world. This ghost is the youth they call Generation Z, who can move mountains, overthrow governments and send chills down the spine of all conformists and parasites of the system. Now it has visited India in the form of the Cockroach Janta Party.
For starters, it all started with a dismissive and insensitive comment by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant about a group of people who can loosely be called activists.
All the chief justice said was: “There are young people like cockroaches who cannot find jobs. Some of them become media and RTI activists and start attacking everyone.” He merely reflected the sentiments of the wealthy section of Indian society who felt threatened by the poor.
In the past, such feelings would go unnoticed, but not anymore. From now on, even judges will be judged by every word they say. It didn’t take 24 hours for an Indian living abroad to adopt the same cynical terms to form the basis of a new movement of unemployed, data-gobbling, internet-active youth.
For now, his ‘manifesto’ aims to highlight the very distinct pattern of injustice and unfairness that India is currently witnessing: he promises to end post-retirement awards to judges; to protect every vote and arrest the CEC under UAPA if a legal vote is deleted because he says disenfranchisement is no less than terrorism; Reserving 50 percent of positions in Parliament and all Cabinets for women; liberating the media and ending the dominance of corporate companies in the sector; and will ban MLAs and MPs who quit their party from contesting elections for 20 years.
While some political parties, including the Left and Telugu Desam’s Andhra Pradesh unit, have called for the youth’s voice to be heard, right-wing parties have already announced their decision to resist it.
After its support base grew rapidly, it is no surprise that the Union government briefly blocked the party’s website and X account in India. Reports indicate that his Instagram account has three million followers; Twice the size of the BJP! Cyber warriors of RSS and BJP have already declared war on CJP.
Dr. The warning that Martin Luther King Jr. gave to American society in the last century is also valid for today’s India. “Those who hope that Black Americans need to relieve stress and will now be content will be in for a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as normal,” he said in his historic speech in Chicago.
“There will be neither peace nor tranquility in America until the black citizen is granted civil rights.” It may no longer be business as usual in India either. The upheaval in the education sector, including the NEET question paper leak and the failure of CBSE Class 12 answer paper valuation, will only strengthen their case.
The calls for civil and fundamental rights, especially from the oppressed and neglected classes, may grow louder. There is little point in treating the new phenomenon as a ghost; Instead, if we are to survive as a democracy, those who hold the instruments of power and society in general will have to confront this problem.
