Lessons From Cockroaches

Whilst interviewed during the London Indian Film Festival on the 16^th of July, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was questioned in depth about his career and the upcoming 25^th anniversary of his colonial epic Lagaan. The most dissected soundbite from this conversation, however, had little to do with either. Instead, Khan took it upon himself to quell a long-standing rumour about his character in 3 Idiots, a 2009 dramedy which followed the lives of three engineering students. He denied that his character, an engineer and activist named Phunsukh Wangdu, was based on Sonam Wangchuk, a real-life engineer and humanitarian with whom many similarities have been drawn. Fans had simply been swept up in a "misconception". 

Whether Wangdu was inspired by Wangchuk is difficult to claim – yet Khan and the latter’s lives could not be more different in the aftermath of India’s student protests this summer. Ironically, 3 Idiots displayed the issues within India’s higher education system and the mounting pressure it causes for students. Khan’s character resisted archaic forms of teaching and learning. Yet, unlike one of his co-stars, he has stayed silent about the recent protests, including Wangchuck’s 26-day hunger strike in solidarity with the Indian students.

India’s student protests were sparked by a revelation in early May that the NEET paper, the examination for entrance into medical universities which is sat by millions of students every year, had been leaked and sold for millions of rupees. Students would have to retake the rigorous exam for a second time and compete for just 130,000 places. The lack of accountability from education minister Dhamendra Pradhan and the suicides of over a dozen students which occurred in the days and weeks following this news inspired Abhijit Dipke, a 30-year-old political communications strategist, to start a youth movement.

Thus, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) was born. Satirically echoing the name of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the words of Chief Justice Surya Kant that India’s unemployed youths are “cockroaches”, the CJP has racked up 26 million Instagram followers in two months, dwarfing the BJP’s 9 million and dominating India’s airwaves and discourse. Their agenda was to ensure Pradhan’s resignation, his accountability for the NEET paper leak and reforms within higher education. 

Protests began on the 6^th of June, centred in New Delhi’s astronomical observatory site Jantar Mantar, with the CJP and Wangchuk administering a sit-in until the resignation of Pradhan. The scenes from Delhi, reposted frequently online, presented an almost utopian collaboration between protestors. India’s mainstream news – often referred to as godi media, or sycophantic, pro-Modi channels – smeared them as unpatriotic, Pakistani-funded terrorists who sowed dissent. Instead, Hindu and Muslim protestors cooked, ate and prayed together. They sang songs, filmed Instagram reels and held up signs and artwork which poked fun at the Modi government. They were occasionally joined by some Bollywood actors as well as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. 

Yet, Gandhi was detained not long after his arrival at Jantar Mantar. Wangchuk, on the 20^th day of his hunger strike, was forcefully removed by Delhi’s police and sent to the hospital. The police administered tear gas, detained and beat several protesters who attempted to march on parliament, allegedly also physically abusing female protestors. The CJP later accused the government of unlawfully arresting one hundred people in states ruled by the BJP. 

Social media has been unabashed with its spread of the visceral images of police brutality against protestors in Jantar Mantar and beyond. Even after the resignation of Pradhan on the 25^th of July, the CJP has refused to back down, developing their own online platform named Saakshi (Witness) for those who want to "securely upload" videos of police misconduct, even after a nationwide disbanding of the protests. Whilst the CJP acknowledged in another post that their demands for accountability and reform had been accepted by Modi’s government, they continue to produce regular content, multiple times a day, which advocates for greater protection for their protestors and apologies from the government for the treatment of women by Delhi’s police. 

The CJP is not a bump in the road for Modi’s government. Supporters have shaken the foundations of an administration which has long neglected them. They have also chosen to besmirch those in the public eye, such as Aamir Khan and his Bollywood contemporaries, who have stayed silent; their continued allegiance towards an entertainment industry which has increasingly produced nationalist, pro-Modi cinema was a sign of clear "cowardice". Pradhan stated in his resignation statement that he hoped that India’s students remained focused on their studies and not the "legal complexities" that had distracted them. Yet this may be wishful thinking in the aftermath of a movement that has questioned India’s education, government, media and entertainment in one fell swoop.

Illustration: Will Allen/Europinion