In this episode of Editorial, HW News Managing Editor Sujit Nair weighs on the Cockroach Janta Party's protest in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar today. Mr. Nair believes that Abhijeet Dipke's 'launch' has been successful. He notes that such protests are always a healthy sign in democracy. However, how CJP proceeds in the coming days still remains unclear.
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[00:00:00] Abhijeet Dipke of course has become a national figure, has become a national name, has become very popular and his first launch as we call it in marketing, his launch was fantastic. He launched himself well. Who was the star of the day today with Abhijeet Dipke, Sonam Manchuk was actually almost in the same place where Anna Hazare was during India against corruption.
[00:00:26] Always in a democracy, having a voice of dissent is good. Having another point of view is fantastic. Having somebody who can question the power is great. And the more, the merrier. Namaskar! Welcome to another episode of HW News Editorial.
[00:00:54] Now, I haven't spoken much about the Cockroach Janata Party. The reason I didn't speak much about Cockroach Janata Party is because, honestly, I couldn't figure out much about Cockroach Janata Party.
[00:01:11] A lot of information one collected. But those information was not very conclusive as far as I am concerned. At least I couldn't conclude saying that, you see, you know, this is what Cockroach Janata Party is. This is the future that I think that, you know, Cockroach Janata Party will have in the next two years. Cockroach Janata Party will become an actual full-fledged party, not become a full-fledged party.
[00:01:37] Whether they will have public support or not have public support, I actually couldn't predict or couldn't understand. So, therefore, I didn't come in front of you and talk about it. The second thing is, you know, a lot of information, a lot of, call it rumors, call it information, call it guess, whatever.
[00:01:59] That, you know, Cockroach Janata Party is related to AAP. AAP is promoting Cockroach Janata Party. AAP is, it's a subsidiary of AAP and, you know, all of that. That was one end of the story. Another end of the story is that a lot of money has been pumped in by, you know, international agents. There are a lot of foreigners who are putting in money into, whatever, CJP. A lot of countries supporting CJP and so on and so forth. All of those things happened. SORUS and all of that, all of that happened.
[00:02:28] So, is it, is it right? Is it wrong? I didn't know. I don't know. There was another information that, that spoke about how Pakistan and youth from Pakistan and people of Pakistan are supporting them and all that. All this was spoken about. One didn't know. So, therefore, I didn't speak. Today was a very important day. And I was hoping to see what happens today. And then I thought I will come in front of you and have a view.
[00:02:57] You see, the basic box that had to be ticked. If there were people, if there were people on ground, huge amount of people on ground, then one could have concluded that CJP is taking off. That is what I would have concluded this evening. And told in front of you. Again, today, what happened was, it is not that there were no people on ground. There were people on ground. But were they the, what we expected? Maybe not.
[00:03:26] I was expecting a lot more. But the crowd was not that much to be, at least what I saw and what reporters there would say. So, the crowd was very limited. Like what I think Arfa Khanam Sherwani said that, you know, their membership is running, it runs into crores or whatever, their subscribers or their followers runs into crores. But one hardly found 1500 to 2000 people on ground. So, yeah, I mean that happened. That is also a fact.
[00:03:56] But does that mean that, you know, two crores followers are two crores on ground? No, no, no, no. All that is also not happening. So, again, one doesn't know what is the, what is the future for CJP. That's point number two. Point number three. Delhi police was very well behaved today. Was very well behaved today.
[00:04:16] Now, that is actually obvious. The reason why they, they, they behaved well today is because had they behaved badly, had they arrested him or had they, you know, there was a lati charge or whatever. However, if Delhi police wouldn't have behaved the way they behave today, Abhijit Deepke would have been a hero.
[00:04:37] Today evening, Abhijit Deepke would have been a hero. So, that was almost predicted. It was that, you know, the government will not use any coercion against Abhijit Deepke. The police will behave well. It was more or less predicted. So, to that extent, we were not surprised. But what we were surprised is at the maturity that these boys handled that protest.
[00:05:02] The protest was handled with a lot of maturity. The fact is, they ensured that they insisted, they were very sure that, you know, there could be miscreants coming and creating problems. And they made it sure that everybody knew that, you know, they were not there to create problems. They ensured that their members were told that, you know, no issues, no violence, no breaking the law and all of that.
[00:05:27] So, that was made very clear. So, had there been violence today, possibly the crowd out there, the people in general would have understood that it is not necessarily created or initiated by Cockroach Janata Party. The crowd would have understood that it is created by outsiders who just came there to disrupt the protest. And that again would have been advantage Cockroach Janata Party. That also they ensured, very matured.
[00:05:55] Now, Sonam Manchuk, who was the star of the day today with Abhijit Deepke. Sonam Manchuk was actually almost in the same place where Anna Hazare was during the India against corruption.
[00:06:11] So, same role he was playing today for this particular event. He was playing the mentor's role. He was playing that senior leader's role. He was that individual everybody was looking up to. The young people out there were looking up to. So, he played that role and he played it well.
[00:06:29] So, that also, CJP is actually functioning on one single agenda at the moment. And that one single agenda is sacking Dharmendra Pradhan, sacking the education minister.
[00:06:51] Now, Sonam Manchuk intervened and said that no, we should not just end this with sacking of a particular minister. We should go ahead and talk more about reforming the education system. Because I think Vanchuk, as an experienced public figure, understood that if CJP has to last long, there has to be a larger objective, a larger motive behind the protest.
[00:07:18] So, he wanted to stretch that objective to reforming education. But CJP stuck to this stance of resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. Now, it's a very interesting thing actually. It's a very interesting thing and I will tell you why I say it's a very interesting thing. You see, Bharatiya Janata Party will not sack Dharmendra Pradhan. Bharatiya Janata Party may not even ask Dharmendra Pradhan to render his resignation.
[00:07:44] For the simple reason that if Bharatiya Janata Party allows Dharmendra Pradhan to resign or ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, which means that Bharatiya Janata Party is conceding to Cockroach Janata Party. It's conceding to Cockroach Janata Party which they will definitely not do. Which they will definitely not do and it will have a lot of ramifications on Bharatiya Janata Party's image in this country. So, they will not do it.
[00:08:10] And till such time that Bharatiya Janata Party doesn't ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, Cockroach Janata Party has a free run. They can continue to ask for his resignation. So, that is also a very interesting situation here. Abhijeet Dipke, of course, has become a national figure, has become a national name, has become very popular. And it is not that therefore he will stay like this. He has to take a lot of efforts to stay like this.
[00:08:39] But the fact remains that his first launch as we call it in marketing, his launch was fantastic. He launched himself well. That kudos to him. So, that is where he stands. Now, another thing is while I said boys and young men and all this, all of that, there were a lot of senior citizens who were there. Senior citizens because they were bothered about the future of their children. They were bothered about the future of their grandchildren. So, there were a lot of senior citizens in the protest. They were there quietly.
[00:09:08] Like most of them, most of the others. They were there quietly. But they also participated in the protest. That also was a highlight factor. So, that's where it stands. Now, the million dollar question. Is this a great launch for CJP? One doesn't know. Is CJP here to stay? One doesn't know. Is CJP going to make a difference? One doesn't know.
[00:09:36] But is there a potential? Of course, there is. People have noticed CJP. Every person I know knew that there was a protest in Delhi and that protest was organized by CJP. Cockroach Janata Party. That is a fact. So, using marketing jargons, let me tell you brand awareness was almost 100%. Which is fabulous as far as the launch is concerned. Fabulous as far as the launch is concerned.
[00:10:05] Now, whether brand awareness will convert itself into sales is what we need to kind of now find out. And that is what even I will be looking forward to. And always in a democracy, having a voice of dissent is good. Having another point of view is fantastic. Having somebody who can question the power is great. And the more, the merrier.
[00:10:35] If you are looking at a stable, good democracy. That said, I hope there is certain amount of honesty in Cockroach Janata Party. I hope there are no political subsidiary of one big party and a small party. I hope all of that is not true. I also hope that there is no foreign funding, foreign alliance, foreign hand and all that. I hope all that is not there.
[00:11:04] And after today, there will be interesting times ahead. That for sure. That one fact is for sure. Let's see what happens next. Till I see you next time. That's tomorrow at 10. Namaskar.