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Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will never pardon the cockroach agitators who happened to spoil the ruling duo’s carefully crafted plans for perpetual authoritarian control. Abhijeet Dipke appeared out of the blue just when they felt they were on the cusp of success.

After a series of induced splits in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on the verge of a two-thirds majority in parliament. The dramatic realignment in Tamil Nadu with the Congress teaming up with Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) enabled Shah to open talks with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on delimitation Bill. Everything seemed to be working to plan when the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) agitation caught the imagination of lakhs of young Indians fed up over repeated paper leaks and cancellation of all-India tests.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

The CJP is not going to vanish as many in the Modi camp hope. It will stay in the battle and continue its fight for justice. The CJP also plans to respond to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) boss Mohan Bhagwat’s call for a dialogue on GenZ’s problems. Dipke has also made it clear that the CJP has no plans to convert the outfit into a political movement. But it would build a broader public movement to restore people’s faith in the democratic process. Its leaders are in the process of consulting different segments of the polity. It has decided to launch a ‘Kya bolti public’ campaign and make unemployment a core issue.

A panicked regime had, in true authoritarian style, directed its ministers and senior party sides to be active on Instagram — in order to effectively counter this challenge. The aim was to restore the regime’s domination on social media.Unfortunately, only 11 of the 30 cabinet ministers increased their Instagram activity, contributing to a 13% rise in overall posting over a two-week period. Another study finds the BJP’s outreach through Instagram has ‘flopped’. According to media persons covering the BJP, Modi also met with the party’s social media groups about their apparent failure to wrest domination of the narrative.

We are in the midst of a political turmoil the outcome of which, at the moment, seems unpredictable. For the the first time, the invincibility of the Modi-Shah establishment has been effectively challenged. We have to wait and watch how the events will unfold in the coming weeks. There are several ifs and buts. However, a few things have already become........

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