A good comeback to CJI, but CJP is fated to be evanescent

Online parties cannot even raise funds through crowdfunding unless they mark their presence with a registration with the ECI

Not even in his wildest dream Chief Justice of India Surya Kanth would have imagined that his drawing of a parallel between unemployed youth and cockroaches would trigger off a satirical riposte first and then assume a deluge on the virtual world. The CJI, with due respect, was allowing himself to be carried away. As the noted lawyer Harish Salve said, judges should measure their words and avoid hyperbole.

The Supreme Court’s likening of the CBI to a caged parrot, far from having a chastening effect on the powers that be and the CBI itself, has had the counterproductive effect of lowering the image of the nation’s premiere investigative agency in public perception. People hang on to the lips of their lordships, which is why they must be circumspect in their utterances, including when passing off-the-record or off-the-cuff remarks called ‘obiter dicta’ during hearings. 

To be sure, the rapid fame of 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke and his virtual world Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) would be evanescent, as most of the social media initiatives are. That it clocked more than 23 million online adherents in a matter of days before it was blocked by X is indeed a record of sorts, but in the virtual world, especially in social media, the bandwagon effect is more pronounced, and commitment to stay on is woefully lacking.

Netizens want fun without responsibility and sharing of the total cost and are free with their likes, follows, and thumbs-ups. The BJP, on the other hand, has a 14-crore presence on the terra firma, many of them the foot soldiers of the party and ardent supporters of the Hindutva cause. So, not much should be read into the 30 seconds of fame of the stillborn CJP.

After all, social media caters as much to the wannabes as to the well-heeled ones like Sridhar Vembus, Elon Musks, and Anand Mahindras of the world who have a take on everything going on under the sun. Wannabes have a lot to say but get no space in the mainstream media and, therefore, jump in with their two cents in a sense of ‘me-too’ with their views, which are often simplistic and impulsive. Their emojis, too, are impulsive and made just to be counted. 

In his interaction with Reuters from the United States, where he has lived for the past two years, Dipke described sleepless nights creating social media content and doing media interviews. “The Indian government has declared me a national security threat,” he said by telephone from Chicago in reference to the Indian government’s kneejerk reaction in blocking him on X, which the Delhi High Court hasn’t unblocked, so to say. “They are trying to defame me. But democratically, within our constitutional rights, we will do what needs to be done.” 

Perhaps the Indian government is chary of his ties with AAP, of which he was an intern during its salad days. But then the AAP was born out of mass protests on the terra firma. Be that as it may.

An online party has no body to be kicked and no soul to be damned until it descends on Mother Earth where it has to often engage its rivals with fisticuffs and verbal jousts. Its members often feel secure by the anonymity conferred by the virtual world till they are hounded by sleuths, smoked out of their virtual cocoons, and have their identities revealed.

To be sure, social media can create public opinion the way it desires, as it happened to a substantial extent in the victory of TVK, the new kid on the block in Tamil Nadu politics which captured power in its maiden attempt. The youth of today carry no baggage and are not besotted with history and historical injustices meted out in the past. They are focused on the here and now—employment, price rises, and hassle-free living. Naturally, they sneer at the traditional parties of the yore, rooted in caste and regional politics and priorities, including freewheeling freebies. But they need a political outfit like the TVK on the earth, whose bandwagon they must board. 

AAP wasn’t a virtual party, though its boasts of being virtuous in the sense of being holier than thou have been its undoing. Though a young party with young leaders, it contradicted itself repeatedly. It set out to take vile politicians to the cleaners but ended up (its top functionaries) being at the cleaners itself. Online yakking is one thing, but working for people on the ground without lulling them with freebies is quite another. 

Online connections and relationships are as tenuous as online dating. Online dating soothes the nerves and eases the pressure at the end of the day, even if both know nothing of each other beyond sweet nothings and endearments. Online parties cannot even raise funds through crowdfunding unless they mark their presence with a registration with the ECI. 

In 2010, the Parliament amended the law to permit eligible NRI voters (those holding Indian passports and estimated at 15 million) to cast their votes by descending to their voting centres in India. But that right has been sparsely exercised if at all. No NRI comes to India merely for exercising their franchise unless they can tag it with some family function like the marriage of the kin, especially when they are living in the far-off USA or Canada. 

Postal ballots or voting at the Indian embassies/ high commissions/ consulates is an option but for curious reasons shunned. Online voting is feared for its hacking potential. Therefore, online supporters of a movement or party achieve nothing beyond influencing their parent-voters back home unless they are ready to hotfoot it in the chaotic Indian electoral-scape. 

S MURLIDHARAN