If anyone can take “credit” for the inception of the Cockroach Janta Party—or the CJP as it is popularly known—it should be the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant. Had he not used the “cockroach” analogy during a Court hearing, founder Abhijeet Dipke would have remained anonymous and the CJP stillborn.
But for the Dipke’s CJP, with a little help from climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, the NEET paper leak stir would not have assumed the proportions it did nor escalated to the scale that made the government see red, to put it mildly.
The success of the protest was that the government buckled under pressure and gave in to the demand of the students who wanted nothing less than the head of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
This was a huge win. Since then, the Dipke-founded CJP has not looked back.
Rewind to May this year when the CJI used the words “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a Supreme Court hearing. A bench was hearing a case on the designation of senior advocates when the CJI remarked that some individuals with fake or bogus degrees act as “parasites of society”. He went a step further and compared them to “cockroaches”.
Despite the clarification by the CJI immediately after the ruckus that followed, anger among the youth was at its peak and thus was born the CJP headed by communication strategist Dipke.
Aimed at channelling youth discontent over issues like unemployment and competitive exam leaks, its success can be measured by the protests in New Delhi which literally brought the government to its knees.
Otherwise, for any government worth its salt to actually succumb to a resignation demand is suicidal given that the move has a spiral effect. In any case, the Narendra Modi-led government is known for its tough posturing. Therefore, for it to give in to the demand of the resignation of one of its own ministers is kind of unprecedented and substantiates the pressure it is working under. Pradhan resigned on July 25 this year.
Emboldened by its past success, the CJP is at it again. The demon has risen: this time closing in on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The salvo has been fired by two of Kumar’s deputies for acting solo and in an arbitrary manner. Two of the three members of the Commission have reportedly raised their voice and are questioning the manner in which the Election Commission chief has been functioning. The two election commissioners have questioned the integrity of the voter database, changes to the way new voters are enrolled and the security of the electoral rolls itself.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have reportedly objected to several decisions which were taken without their knowledge. There were at least 14 times in the past 10 months when Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi were kept in the dark, according to a media expose.
In one instance, according to a report in The Indian Express, the two commissioners even wrote a letter complaining to the cabinet secretary, the top bureaucrat in the Indian government. The report comes at a time when the Commission is carrying out a controversial country-wide revision of the electoral database which is mired in controversy.
On their part, the Opposition parties have been accusing Kumar of manipulating voters’ lists to favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party during elections. The accusations have, however, been rejected by both the Election Commission and the saffron party.
However, the latest revelations cannot be dismissed as Opposition propaganda given that they are based on investigations by a credible media investigation known for its prowess in the field.
The exposé has lent credence to lingering questions over the credibility of the exercise which has seen 130 million names from across India struck off the voters’ list. Complaints have poured in about missing names on grounds that the process demands furnishing documents that many don’t have.
The revelations have provided fresh ammunition to the Opposition parties and critics who have repeatedly claimed that SIR is being used to exclude their voters for the BJP’s benefit and that elections in India are no longer free and fair.
To say that the Commission is facing a credibility crisis would be an understatement. It is much more than that with allegations of the CEC not only working in tandem with the powers that be, but also doing what it can to help it win elections that otherwise the BJP may have lost.
Quite expectedly, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the Election Commission conducted the SIR exercise “to help the BJP capture Bengal” by deleting names of valid voters. “The truth is now out about how the BJP used the EC,” Banerjee is reported to have said. “The Chief Election Commission must resign otherwise protests will continue,” Banerjee said, referring to Gyanesh Kumar as “Vanish Kumar”.
Banerjee is not alone. The CJP, the Congress and the other Opposition parties too have raised this demand of the CEC’s resignation and said that they will not rest till he is shown the door. Apart from protests in different parts of the country organised by the Congress, the CJP has warned of a nationwide protest seeking the CEC’s resignation.
The issue, however, is a larger one. It is less about the CEC or the systematic failure of institutions; nor is it about the resignation of the CEC or the logic of the government succumbing to the demand, if at all it does.
Yes, given that there is a precedent of Pradhan stepping down in the wake of the students’ agitation, one would have to wait to see how events pan out. A resignation, if it happens, would substantiate that the government is under pressure and protests like the one steered by the CJP-Opposition combine have the capacity to bring it to its knees. And this is not good news for the current dispensation or for that matter any government.
Add to this the fact that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi seems to be taking strides as a street fighter and raking up issues that resonate with the people. The CEC controversy has thrown the spotlight on his erstwhile vote chori campaign and substantiated that the issue that he had raked up has content.
Having said that, one must concede that politically, Gandhi has come of age. However much the BJP may try to wish him away, he is giving the government and the party sleepless nights.
Gandhi apart, this issue is something that the entire Opposition could come together and try to checkmate the government.
But here is a warning: the Opposition must put up a united front rather than speak in different voices. If it does, then it can do to the BJP what was done in 2024: succeed in eluding the majority the BJP was harping on.
For the record, in the last general elections, the saffron party could not get the numbers to form a government on its own. It had to depend on allies to help Prime Minister Modi get his third term. Were the Opposition to keep up the momentum, the SIR and CEC’s role could prove as lethal as the Constitution plank that Gandhi had successfully steered in the last general elections.
Gandhi, it may be recalled, had carried a pocket edition of the Constitution hammering that if the BJP was voted back it would change the Constitution and tinker with democracy and the democratic rights of the people of this country. Currently, the CEC issue, preceded with the exam paper leaks and the youth uprising, has the potential to do a greater damage than the Constitution googly. But that is if the Opposition remains united and continues to take on the government and strike a common blow.
But this is only a part of the problem. The BJP also has its allies to worry about because be it the Telugu Desam Party, the Lok Janshakti or Janata Dal Secular among others, they are seeking clarification and asking CEC to “dispel misgivings” on the issue confronting the Commission.
What has also stoked the fires is the BJP coming out strongly in defence of the CEC. Terming the Opposition criticism a “smear campaign” and that dissent was “a sign of a vibrant democracy”.
Party spokesperson Sambit Patra told a press conference that “ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014, Opposition parties have been collapsing one after the other”. And because they cannot win elections, they are trying to “undermine the institutions of the country”, he said.
The BJP’s vociferous defence of the CEC gives enough rise to speculation that there is more than meets the eye and underscores that the CEC and BJP are working in tandem and are hand in glove.
That notwithstanding, the days ahead are tough for the government that has faced a series of allegations, including thefts in the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The CEC controversy seems to be yet another nail in the coffin even if not the last. Were the BJP-led dispensation to ignore this, it would be at its own peril, as it would overlook the question everyone seems to be asking of it today: “Has the countdown begun?”
—The writer is an author, journalist and political commentator
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