Why Congress must not smear CJP

Something unprecedented is afoot. India’s opposition parties and thousands of ordinary citizens are finally galvanised against the Modi government. They are speaking in one voice against voter suppression and for India’s democratic future. The staggering police counter-mobilisation suggests the once-invincible government feels threatened. Yet, Opposition parties may squander this opportunity. Hints are evident on the X social media platform, where some Congress supporters are attacking the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

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The conspiracy theory being peddled is that the CJP was created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and their supposed ‘B-team’, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), to draw youth support away from Rahul Gandhi. This ignores the fact that Abhijeet Dipke, CJP founder, has accused Amit Shah of turning the Delhi Police into a ‘bunch of criminals’, and called Prime Minister Modi a “psychotic dictator” lacking the aukaat (worth) to become greater than Nehru, and who became Prime Minister due to vote theft. The unprecedented police repression of CJP’s October 10 protest too contradicts this theory. However, this attempt by some Congress supporters to discredit the CJP is significant; it reveals their insecurity, that CJP leaders, some of whom had previous affiliations with the AAP, will repeat AAP’s history of undercutting Congress’s support base in Delhi and Punjab. They intend to discredit the CJP in order to keep youth support safe for Mr. Gandhi. It will instead erode it.

The youth had grown frustrated with India’s education system, economy and infrastructure. This was worsened by relentless propaganda denying people’s reality, a stifling atmosphere of fear, and the closure of all channels of democratic dissent. The CJP’s call to assemble at Jantar Mantar came as a new lease of life to a dying democracy. The youth expressed relief at the opening of a democratic space after years of oppressive silence to which many had resigned. The increased freedom to speak, disagree, and criticise was palpable and contagious. The CJP provided a common platform for a diverse coalition of dissenters to coalesce, and express dissent in personalised, creative ways under one banner.

Need to stand together

This does not deny Rahul Gandhi’s work on paper leaks, institutional capture and voter suppression. Yet, the Congress would be deceiving itself if it believed that – after the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022 – it has consistently prioritised calling a cross-section of ordinary citizens onto the streets under its banner and organising India’s diverse dissenters into a popular coalition. The CJP, in doing that, has punctured the BJP’s aura of invincibility, creating a juncture pregnant with opportunity for the Opposition. If the CJP is a plot to undercut Mr. Gandhi, it is currently achieving the opposite. That his decency, fearlessness and ideological commitment had had an impact is evidenced by several Gen Z youth expressing support for Mr. Gandhi during the CJP’s July protest. His Chhatron Ki Goonj rallies have been boosted by the CJP’s youth galvanisation.

But the obsessive attacks by some Congress supporters on the CJP threaten to squander this opportunity. The CJP is popular because it is perceived as prioritising people’s interests. Mutual criticism is democratic, but smear campaigns will be read as reflecting the petty insecurity of Congresspersons, and as disregarding the agency and intelligence of dissenters to judge who inspires and represents them authentically. This threatens the goodwill Mr. Gandhi has earned by prioritising people’s causes and platforming citizens galvanised by the CJP. While he has not smeared the CJP, such impressions may attach to Mr. Gandhi. The protestors’ independence of mind make it clear that they will reject anyone suspected of placing personality cult or partyism over authentic concern for India’s dissenting people. In his own interest and his party’s, Mr. Gandhi must rein in his social media supporters.

Rahul Gandhi must accept the challenge of his youth support being undermined. No party is entitled to the support of India’s dissenting citizens. It must be earned. If Congress claims to represent the youth, it must persuade them it does so best. The CJP resonates because it offers an open, accessible space that amplifies rather than dwarfs ordinary citizens’ voices. Mr. Gandhi will similarly win goodwill by inspiring dissenting citizens and non-party opposition groups to treat Congress as an umbrella platform for expressing their dissent creatively. He will also do so by confidently sharing space with other opposition parties, signalling he prioritises India over self and party.

Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav is historian at the National Law School of India, Bangalore, and the author of ‘Being Hindu, Being Indian: Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas of Nationhood’