Zahir Dehlvi's Taraz-e-Zahiri was first published in Lahore in 1914 as Dastan-e-Ghadar. Written in Urdu, the book is an eyewitness account of the May 1857 uprising in British India. It is also known as Ghadar, the mutiny, or the great revolt. Some called it the 'first war of independence' of India. One hundred twelve years after the book's first publication, India witnessed another revolt. It is the 'cockroach protest' that forced the Indian education minister to step down last week. Though there is no real connection between the book and the movement that shook the Modi-led government, it is also a kind of Ghadar, a youth revolt.
The youth-led 36-day protest under the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) banner in New Delhi, the Indian capital, is difficult under a strongman who has been ruling for 12 years. Though democratically elected for the third time, the Modi government has steadily reduced space for dissent. The ideology of Hindutva gradually occupied public space and spread extremism across the country. Ultra-nationalists became so dominant that valid criticisms of the BJP government are labelled as 'anti-Indian,' 'anti-Hindu,' and 'pro-Pakistani.'
CJP is a virtual youth platform founded by Abhijeet Dipke, a postgraduate student at Boston University. He launched it in protest of Indian Chief Justice Surya Kant's cruel remarks, who called unemployed youths and activists 'parasites' and 'cockroaches'. The platform quickly attracted millions of followers. It made demands protesting leaked question papers in public exams and other serious irregularities in the education sector. At one point, protests erupted in New Delhi as thousands of youths took to the streets and gathered at Jantar Mantar.
The Indian PM was initially reluctant to address the protestors' legitimate demands and the protesters faced police atrocities. He, however, finally agreed to accept the demand leading to the education minister's resignation. In a positive note, this reflects a mature democracy where an elected government respects people's wishes. CJP also withdrew their movement with a clear message that they will return when needed. Since then, there is a persistent intimidation by police towards the CJP supporters in different parts of India. The Indian Supreme Court, however, on Tuesday said that no coercive action can be taken against student protesters who were involved in the recent youth movement without criminal antecedents.
Many thought the massive protest might turn into a mass uprising, as it did in Bangladesh two years earlier, ending Hasina's tyrannical rule. That did not happen because there was little scope for such an uprising. Unlike Hasina's regime, Modi's government came to power through popular votes, and India's last three national elections were largely fair. Despite some manipulation, most voters exercised their constitutional rights freely. In Bangladesh, the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections were grossly manipulated, and voters were denied their rights.
Pro-Modi circles in India and abroad find foreign conspiracies in the movement launched by CJP. Many believe that the platform of the youth is funded by the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Abhijeet Dipke, the CJP founder, is tagged as an 'American agent' assigned to destabilise India. The July uprising in Bangladesh was also labelled as 'American conspiracy' and coordinators of the movement were blamed for taking 'thousands of dollars.' The mass uprising in Bangladesh, popularly known as the July Revolution, ended the 15-year authoritarian regime of Hasina. Some Indian journalists, analysts and experts also argued that the CJP movement was designed by the 'deep state'. They hailed Modi for foiling the project. Some of them added that the 'deep state' was also active behind the fall of Hasina in Bangladesh.
These claims are mostly based on misinformation and disinformation to undermine and delegitimise people's movements. Their core aim is to deny legitimate demands. Though involvements of external elements are not unlikely in a movement, it is erroneous to tag as 'foreign conspiracy'. Modi loyalists in India or Hasina loyalists in Bangladesh, or loyalists of any autocrat, believe their leaders can do no wrong, regardless of reality. That is why they resort to conspiracy theories, ignoring facts and support atrocities to protestors and killing of civilians.
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