NO MATTER the usual hype of the protests by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as an expression of frustration of young anger about systemic failure, enough evidence is emerging over the past some time to stress that the entire agitation was purely political -- and therefore lopsided -- in nature. In the past some days, many independent scholars, thinkers, and observers are raising serious questions about the political leaning of the CJP leadership. To those questions, no satisfactory and convincing answers, too, are forthcoming.

 

This has given a clear indication that the Cockroach protests are political in nature. In the next some time, more such facts are likely to pop up endorsing the reality of the Cockroach protest being political -- probably timed to create certain embarrassment to the Modi Government ahead of legislative elections in some states, including Uttar Pradesh, in a few months from now. Facts are already in public domain that the States of Punjab -- ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- and Karnataka -- ruled by the Congress party -- saw incidents of major paper leaks. Those development had caused serious disruptions in the life of aspiring youths in both the States. Yet, the CJP protesters never raised the demand for the resignations of Education Ministers of Punjab and Karnataka.

 

Worse still, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, the founder of Aam Aadmi Party, and Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the undisputed leader of the Congress party as well as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, paid visits to the Cockroach protesters during the month-long agitation. The protesters did not raise the issue of paper leaks in Punjab and Karnataka even once. Instead, the CJP protesters showed their clear leaning towards the two Opposition parties. When questions in this regards were pointedly asked of the spokesman of the CJP, Mr. Saurav Das, he could not offer a convincing response. Instead, he kept talking in a round-about manner in a clear attempt to dodge the issue. No matter how good he may be as a communicator, the CJP spokesman was flustered with the question and could not produce an answer. There is a reason also to suspect that the Cockroach agitation was aimed at mocking at the overall Indian system. That was exactly why countless young people -- boys and girls -- participating in the protests at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar venue had all sorts of dirty and filthy things to utter about Indian leaders, Indian deities including Lord Ram.

 

The irresponsible and shabby manner of their statements on camera was good enough to give an impression that the Cockroach protesters were politically motivated and a clear agenda to oppose every second thing the Modi Government has been doing. Another hint of the agitation being political in nature came when the digital platform that carried the post of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi explaining the Government’s stand on the issue was withdrawn for some time by Meta, the owner of the tech-platform. The Prime Minister’s post was restored only after the Government took a strong exception to that conduct. When questioned, Meta answered that a technical glitch had caused the temporary withdrawal of the Prime Minister’s post. The Government, of course, did not accept that justification and told the company tersely not to toy with such critical communications.

 

The Government had every reason to suspect the integrity of the company because the platform was allowing all abusive posts of Cockroach protesters to continue online. Though the issue appears to have been settled at least for a while, there is no guarantee that the CJP would never raise it again and cause trouble -- once the political plan to do so gets ready and finalised. There is no doubt, however, that the Government’s deft handling of the issue has blunted the sharp edges of Cockroach agitation to some extent. The passage of the Anti Paper-Leak Bill in Parliament will also make a very positive difference to the overall situation. Obviously, the nation appears to have learned some right lessons.