Roach Motel

 

A brand called Black Flag in the United States popularised their cockroach catching trap, “Roach Motel” with the slogan, “Roaches check in, but they don’t check out!” Since then, “Roach Motel” has gone into the English idioms and is lately being used to describe a particular “dark pattern” practice of online platforms like Amazon where it is very easy to sign up but extremely difficult to unsubscribe. I think, the term now can be used, perhaps appropriately, to the government’s interface with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). 

That famous Nicholas Klein quote wrongly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” seems to apply in spades here.

 

Born out of “the unholy union between a judge and a joke – Arundhati Roy),” the initial whim called CJP was ignored by the government. When its number of Instagram followers leapt up phenomenally, it was difficult to ignore. However, they were dismissive. They first said, these followers were from abroad and mostly bots. When it was proved that most of them were from India, they said Instagram popularity doesn’t equal votes; the movement would split votes of the opposition; it was an opportunistic political theatre backed by rival parties.

 

When the dharna started at Jantar Mantar, the Godi media blanked it out. The government eco system dismissed it as having abysmally thin crowds. Then Sonam Wangchuk decided to join and started a fast. And the crowd swelled and swelled. When it couldn’t be brushed aside any longer, they tried laughing at the movement. The Minister in the eye of the storm himself called it “the B team of disruptive elements.” The self-proclaimed thekedaar of the nation, Arnab Goswami described them as the “tukde tukde gang,” “part of the deep state,” “CIA funded,” “China funded,” “Pakistan sponsored,” aur kya kya. How something can be funded both by CIA and China beggars imagination but Arnab is above all those distinctions. He bore the torch and the rest of the Godi media followed on cue. For some reason, the usual “culprit,” Soros didn’t appear in their erudite discourses this time.

 

Fortunately for CJP and unfortunately for the government, the latter decided to fight it out and give the former a bloody nose. In preparation, they removed the Police Commissioner abruptly and replaced him with a more pliant one. On July 18, the Police swooped in and removed Wangchuk forcibly. And on July 20, they used baton, tear gas, electric shock weapons and pellet guns. The use of pellet guns on students was possibly the one single factor that shook the nation.

 

As Arundhati Roy puts it again, "Just when hope seemed lost, they came. Young roaches riding in on the rain.” And, like the tagline of that Black Flag brand, these roaches checked in and stayed put. They didn’t run away. The movement spread all over India, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Goa, even small towns in the hinterland.

In Mumbai, a girl, standing alone stopped a police van carrying arrested protesters. In Kolkata, old and young alike rent the air with chants of “Azadi,” “Azadi,” despite strict warnings against use of the word. The protesters countered everything the government threw at them with creative, catchy and hard-hitting memes:

The best memes were on the Kolkata streets: “The government lies more than my ex,” “My boyfriend does not love me more than Modi loves Dharmendra Pradhan,” read another. A third flipped the ruling party’s Bengal poll slogan: “Paltano dorkar, chai accountable sarkar.” “Everyone is a gangsta until the cockroach starts flying,” “Bure din wapas do,” “Error 404: Accountability not found.” 

When things rapidly spiralled out of hand, the government swung into damage control mode. He Who Is Above Us All (HWIAUA) himself appeared on midnight-released “Friends” videos highlighting  old, tired measures to curb exam paper leaks – fast-track courts, new legislation, ghor paap, etc. ad nauseum – the theme being, the system led by the venerable minister was “more leaked against than leaking.” Sonam Wangchuk was “persuaded” to break his fast. There was an appalling sight of Nirmala Sitharaman explaining how the leak was actually A GOOD THING because students could take the retest and improve their score. [It didn’t occur to her that 2 lakh students gave up in despair and didn’t appear for the retest.]

 

Nothing worked. Gen Z turned out to be Gen Ziddi. They responded with even more (and more strident) memes:

Finally, the government gave in and there was the resignation and acceding to the other demands of withdrawal of cases and compensation for the suicides.

 

HWIAUA’s predilection for acronyms may take a lesson from the original definition of NEET which globally stands for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training". It is a socio-economic classification—typically for young people aged 15 to 24—who are unemployed, economically inactive, and not enrolled in school, vocational courses, or apprenticeships. He underestimated their despair, their desperation and their determination.

 

For now, there’s a small glimmer of democracy and accountability. Until the next assault on these through the looming demon called DELIMITATION …