As more than 25,000 security personnel continue to be deployed in New Delhi to thwart protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the special intensive revision of electoral rolls he has been spearheading, a 27-year-old engineer has turned the ordeal faced by demonstrators attempting to evade detention to reach Jantar Mantar into a satirical video game.
Suraj Kushwah created Jantar Mantar Chalo after the agitation began on October 2. “I was watching the protest on the news and I imagined how it could be a 2D game,” he told Scroll.
Players can choose to be andolankaris (protesters) or Delhi Police officers.
Protesters must recruit others into their kafila (procession) and break through barricades to stage a dharna (sit-in demonstration) in central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which was a designated protest site until it was denotified on Monday.
Meanwhile, players who decide to be police officers can use lathis and tear gas, detain protesters and load them into buses.
This option for players to chose which side they are on has contributed to the popularity of the game, Kushwah said. “Even people who support the government are happy because they can beat up the protesters,” he said.
Not only does the game factor in the police action against protesters, it also takes into account the internet...