An 83-year-old woman stood among thousands of protesters at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Saturday morning at around 11 am. The sun had begun to take its toll. Asked why she had come to a students' protest, she had an answer ready. Her children had long completed their education, but she was worried about her grandchildren's future. "All of them are our children," she said, pointing towards the hundreds of cockroaches.
For much of the afternoon, the protest seemed to be happening in fragments. There were repeated rounds of sloganeering and speech-making by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and the outfit's spokespersons. The crowd at Jantar Mantar continued to swell. A thousand personnel from the CRPF, SSB and Delhi Police stood guard around the venue.
Members of the SFI and the AISF (Left student outfits) carried on with their slogans and daphli. Many 'cockroaches', seated directly on the scorching pitch road under the unforgiving Delhi sun, could barely hear the speakers. All of that lasted until educationist and activist Sonam Wangchuk walked in.
The scattered gathering at the heart of the capital found a common focal point.
That, in some ways, summed up the first major street mobilisation by the CJP, the online movement founded by Abhijeet Dipke.
While Dipke drew the crowds to the Jantar Mantar protest site, it was "Sonam sir", as some cockroaches from Delhi University at the protest site, called Sonam Wangchuk, commanded their attention.
At its peak, when Wangchuk was addressing the gathering, an estimated 2,000-2,500 protesters packed the Jantar Mantar protest site.
The protest at Jantar Mantar was organised to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over examination irregularities and recruitment-related grievances. College-goers, competitive exam aspirants, parents, young professionals and activists turned up in large numbers. A man claimed he had "come from Maharashtra's Nagpur to take part in the demonstration against the system's rot". The dominant slogan throughout the day was "Dharmendra Pradhan must go".
The gathering was significant and successful. It made noise. Significant and successful, not because of its size, but because it was a decent transition from a social media movement into physical mobilisation. Yet the day at Jantar Mantar also exposed the challenges that might lie ahead if the CJP and the cockroaches hope to metamorphise further.
WHAT THOUSANDS OF 'COCKROACHES' LOOKED AND FELT LIKE AT DELHI'S JANTAR MANTAR
By late morning, Jantar Mantar had been filled with students carrying placards, copies of the Constitution, portraits of BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, books of these stalwarts, and the Tiranga. Not everyone had come to raise slogans against minister Pradhan. Beyond the Delhi Police's yellow barricades on the pavement to the protest site from the Rajiv Chowk metro station, a young man was doing brisk business. He had planned in advance and had cockroach masks, posters and Tricolours to offer.
Security personnel of the Delhi Police, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of the CRPF and the Sashastra Seema Bal stood guard outside the Parliament Street Free Church as CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke arrived in an Ertiga, with a copy of BR Ambedkar's autobiography in his hand. For several minutes, Dipke remained inside the vehicle, insisting on police protection before stepping out.
When he finally stepped out, escorted by police personnel into the protest site, hundreds rushed forward at once.
The crowd at the protest site was diverse. An employee working in a bank in New Delhi's Barakhamba Road told India Today Digital that he had come "for the future of my brothers and sisters who are in school".
A PhD scholar from the University of Delhi spoke about "delays, uncertainty and shrinking opportunities in academia". A 34-year-old man from Maharashtra with "a Master's degree in Marathi said he remained unemployed and blamed a lack of opportunities".
Not every cockroach had come carrying a placard. Under the shade of a weather-beaten neem tree, away from the stage and the slogans, artist Pramod Jaiswal stood with a booklet and a red crayon. He said he had travelled from Greater Noida not because he had suffered from examination leaks, but because he believed the students deserved support. "Solidarity," was his word. "Qala bhi ek sanchar madhyam hai," he said. As Dipke and his mates took turns on the microphone, Jaiswal let his crayons do the talking.
The CJP protest was ostensibly about examination irregularities. Yet conversations on the ground revealed a broader sense of disillusionment with delayed recruitments, shrinking job opportunities, institutional accountability and the tendency to brand critics and dissenters as anti-national.
"Agar har koi Pakistani hai, toh Indian kaun hai?" asked Dipke. He distilled a frustration and asked it aloud.
HOW DIPKE BROUGHT THE NUMBERS TO JANTAR MANTAR
After Dipke arrived at the Jantar Mantar, carrying an Ambedkar book and dressed in a white T-shirt, the cockroaches rushed to mob him. Many of them wanted selfies for social media.
Frankly and naturally, there were no signs of an established political machine on the ground. That's understandable. The event, a few times, felt like a mobilisation that had outgrown its organisers.
Initially, Dipke and his spokespersons addressed supporters from a spot behind the JD(U) office on Parliament Street. The microphones, however, struggled to carry the voices of Dipke and his aides (many of which were slogans on repeat) beyond the first few rows. A section of the press didn't even get to hear what Dipke was saying.
Organisers were waiting for Sonam Wangchuk's arrival, and a hurried effort began. A makeshift stage had to be erected. A carpenter in a baniyan (vest) was summoned. He tried to assemble a wooden frame. The arrangement didn't last long. Hours later, the stage was held together, quite literally, by the cockroaches themselves standing on yellow barricades. The stage came up behind the iconic South Indian eatery, Kutty. Steaming idlis, vadas and sambhar were being served in the white ceramic ware even as a thousand angry cockroaches shouted slogans nearby.
It would be unfair to say the protest lacked energy before Wangchuk arrived. Different pockets of activity had sprung up across the venue. The Left's cockroaches had their dafli and slogans. At one point, the arrival of "another teacher" besides Wangchuk was announced. Then Dipke re-emerged.
The plain white T-shirt was now covered by an India cricket jersey. A Tiranga fluttered in his hand. AR Rahman's Vande Mataram blared. Dipke swayed. At least thousands of cockroaches hummed.
A concerning trait of the cockroaches was their conduct. Cockroaches, as Dipke called the protestors, are not known for discipline. Some cockroaches certainly got carried away. Yet for a young crowd, the protest was orderly. There were no major incidents. Most cockroaches were determined to keep things peaceful.
The heat was getting harsher. The cockroaches had settled for jhal muri, not-so-great Rs 20 kulfi and bottles of water. Then "maatt-saab" (master sahab in heartland lingo) arrived. Wangchuk had already said, if Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan didn't resign, he would come to Jantar Mantar on Saturday. Until then, the protest site had felt like several protests happening all at once. Soon, the scattered protests became one.
'THIS ISN'T PROTEST, IT'S AGRAH; PROTESTS WOULD FOLLOW IF...'
As phones shot up, it felt as if that's what the cockroaches were waiting for. Unlike earlier speeches, Wangchuk commanded attention. A group of DU students, squatting on dirt, got busy listening to Wangchuk. The demonstration, the educator-activist said, was an "aagrah" (an earnest request). Not a protest.
"Aagrah hai. Agar aagrah poora nahin hua, tab protest honge," he said. He praised the government for allowing the gathering, calling it a sign of democratic maturity.
Sonam Wangchuk's strongest intervention was pitching, "The children of elected representatives should study in government-run schools and colleges".
"Aise hi accountability fix hogi... jinke India mein stake honge usi pe zimmedari honi chahiye," he said, explaining that stakeholders will have to take responsibility of the education system. The activist from Ladakh added that he wasn't fond of protests.
Chants of "Humara neta kaisa ho? Sonam Wangchuk jaisa ho" was raised. The maat-saab politely declined the offer.
Ultimately, it took a teacher to get the cockroaches in order.
Wangchuk ended his speech with the opening lines of "Hum Mehnatkash Is Duniya Se Jab Apna Hissa Maangenge", the workers' anthem from the 1983 Dilip Kumar-starrer Mazdoor. The opening verse was adapted from a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
CJP spokesperson Vijeta Dahiya followed it up with Sagar Siddiqui's famous couplet. "Nashiman par nashiman is qadar tameer karta ja, ki girte-girte bijli aap khud bezaar ho jaaye." It means, "Build your nest upon nest with such determination that, in striking it again and again, even lightning grows weary."
The CJP and Dipke might have succeeded in bringing hundreds to Jantar Mantar. It's a big feat for a movement that came into existence weeks ago, and that too online. Wangchuk's presence, and his promise to continue pushing for justice and accountability, meant a great deal to many cockroaches. Others were sceptical.
By 4.30 pm, the cockroaches and their kingpin began heading home. Empty buses rolled up on Parliament Street to get the security personnel back to the barracks. We left the CJP protest site thinking about the 83-year-old woman who had shown up because, "all of them are our children".
