Cockroach Janta Party and the Politics of Youth Anger in India
- Can Social Media Rage Turn Into a Real Revolution in India?
- Justice Markandey Katju: Why the Cockroach Janta Party Will Eventually Fade Away
- India’s Angry Youth, Social Media Revolt and the Limits of Digital Movements
From Viral Protest to People’s Revolution: The Limits of the Cockroach Janta Party
Justice Markandey Katju examines whether the viral Cockroach Janta Party reflects a genuine revolutionary movement or merely social media anger driven by unemployment, economic distress and political frustration in India.
Will the Cockroach Janta Party create a Revolution ?
By Justice Markandey Katju
The Cockroach Janta Party, which gathered over 20 million followers on the social media within a few days, represents the anger and frustration of the people of India, who are groaning under the rising cost of living, and particularly the youth who are seeing unemployment looming ahead and a bleak future.
But anger and frustration alone cannot create a Revolution which brings about a great improvement in the lives of the people. That requires a mighty united protracted people's struggle ( jan sangharsh ) in which tremendous sacrifices will have to be made, led by genuinely patriotic and modern-minded leaders with scientific understanding, who are determined to set up a political and social order under which there is rapid industrialisation and a steady rise in the standard of living of the people.
A genuine Revolution results in a great improvement in the lives of the people, e.g. the French Revolution of 1789, which led to the destruction of feudalism in France, and thereby greatly improved the lives of the French people, or the Russian Revolution of October 1917, or the Chinese Revolution of 1949, which did the same.
But every movement involving a large number of people does not culminate in a Revolution, and usually it eventually fizzles out. For example, the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement in 2011 soon acquired a huge number of followers, and indeed led to creation of a new party, the Aam Admi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal coming to power in Delhi, but that did not cause a great improvement in the lives of the people of Delhi, and it certainly did not abolish corruption in India ( in fact AAP was embroiled in scandal after scandal when in power ). The same can be said of the pro-democracy Arab Spring movement of the early 2010s, which eventually fizzled out.
For a Revolution to be successful, there must of course be great discontent among the people. But there must also be (1) a breakdown of the state machinery, as it happened in France in 1789, in Russia in 1917, and at the end of the Qing dynasty in China in 1911 (2) a united people's struggle (3) the struggle is led by genuinely patriotic, selfless, modern-minded leaders, with scientific thinking.
Today, these 3 factors are absent in India. The state machinery, meaning primarily the army and the police, is still intact.
The people are divided on caste and communal lines, which fact becomes evident during our elections.
And our present political leaders ( of all parties ) are not genuinely patriotic and selfless. They are selfish, seeking power and pelf for themselves and their families. They are not modern-minded, and they polarise society on caste and communal lines, to get votes.
The Cockroach Janta Party, despite all its present popularity, will one day certainly fizzle out, fade away and vanish, like a comet which momentarily illuminates the sky, and then disappears.
But I am yet an optimist.
The state machinery in India, meaning the army and the police, is no doubt still intact, but the state institutions have largely collapsed. The state machinery, too, will one day break down as the economic crisis ( massive poverty, unemployment, price rise, etc ) intensifies, though no one can predict how and when that will happen.
As regards our disunity, it is true that it exists today because of the tremendous diversity in India. But I am confident that the time will come when our people will realise that there is something which unites us viz the common desire of all our people to get rid of our huge socio-economic evils, and the realization that unless they forget their differences of religion, caste, race etc and launch a mighty united people's struggle ( jan sangharsh ) they will never be able to get rid of them, but will remain condemned to abject poverty, massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, appalling level of child malnutrition, etc
Now about the third factor. It is true that our present political leaders, of all parties, are a bunch of worthless selfish people, with no genuine love for the people, and will do nothing to abolish their sufferings.
However, historical experience shows that when a country is in a crisis and in deep distress, nature throws up great leaders.
For instance, in England in the 17th century, when there was a struggle between the King and Parliament, Oliver Cromwell, who was unknown earlier, emerged as the leader of the parliamentary forces. Similarly, during the French Revolution of 1789, Robespierre, who was an unknown lawyer earlier, emerged as the leader. The same can be said of Lenin, who became Russia's leader in 1917.
So great patriotic, selfless leaders of our country will certainly emerge one day in the future, though today they are not to be seen.
(Justice Katju is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. These are his personal views.)
