Perhaps Abhijit Dipke might have thought twice before christening his so-called Gen Z movement against the Modi Government’s education policies as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)—if only he had remembered Amitabh Bachchan’s unforgettable cockroach lesson from Hum.
Released in the early 1990s, the film had a famously irreverent dialogue about two varieties of cockroaches: those born in the gutter and those supposedly emerging from “paap ki gandagi”. The first, Bachchan’s character explains, is at least understandable. It comes from the drain, carries germs, spreads disease and, thankfully, can be dealt with using a spray. The second variety, however, is presented as a rather more complicated nuisance for which no ready-made remedy exists.
One need not stretch the metaphor too far to understand why the CJP nomenclature is proving unintentionally appropriate.
Dipke, reportedly associated with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, appears to have discovered the easiest formula for instant political relevance: take a legitimate public concern, add social-media theatrics, sprinkle some anti-Modi rhetoric and declare yourself the voice of an entire generation. What a convenient revolution!
The problem is that Gen Z is considerably bigger than Dipke’s Instagram and street-corner universe.
Question-paper leaks are undoubtedly serious. Students deserve clean examinations, accountability and a credible education system. But converting every examination-related grievance into a political campaign against the Modi Government does not make one a student leader. It merely makes one another entrant in Bharat’s already overcrowded political circus.
And then comes the little constitutional detail that appears to have escaped the CJP’s crash course in civics: education is largely a State subject, with responsibilities divided between the Union and the States under the Constitution. Yet the CJP seems remarkably selective about where its revolutionary torchlight shines.
Why visit BJP-ruled States with cameras rolling, slogans flying and social-media posts ready for uploading—but suddenly develop a case of political invisibility when similar controversies erupt in Opposition-ruled States?
Take Jharkhand. Young people there reportedly protested over question-paper leaks concerning State recruitment examinations. Where was the magnificent CJP revolution then? Perhaps the cockroaches were taking the day off. Or perhaps the gutter changes depending on which political party controls the drain.
The Rajasthan episode makes the spectacle even more revealing. CJP members reportedly entered a government school to highlight its allegedly pathetic conditions and subsequently faced resistance from locals, including parents. The group may well have its version of events, and authorities should establish what actually happened. But there is one elementary question: does declaring oneself a social activist automatically confer unrestricted entry into a government school full of children?
Apparently, in the new revolutionary rulebook, safeguarding children comes second to producing a dramatic video.
And that is where the whole enterprise begins to smell less like student activism and more like political packaging.
The irony is delicious. A movement calling itself the Cockroach Janta Party seems to have discovered exactly the behavioural characteristics associated with its chosen mascot: appearing suddenly, creating considerable nuisance, scurrying away when confronted and somehow always finding its way back into the news cycle.
Perhaps Amitabh Bachchan was onto something after all.
Of course, the real cockroaches in Hum were fictional. Dipke’s CJP is not. But if the movement wants to borrow the name, it should also be prepared to live with the metaphor.
There is nothing wrong with young people questioning governments. There is everything wrong with pretending that selective outrage is neutral activism. If the CJP genuinely cares about students, let it go wherever students face injustice—BJP-ruled States, Congress-ruled States, AAP-ruled territories, everywhere.
Otherwise, it risks becoming exactly what it claims to oppose: not a movement of Gen Z, but another political outfit looking for a convenient audience.
And as Amitabh’s legendary cockroach dialogue reminds us, some nuisances come from the gutter, some from elsewhere—and, occasionally, the most entertaining ones arrive with a press release, a hashtag and a political agenda.
