One protest, two ‘vibes’? CJP and Congress on the streets

“All protests are one protest,” said Rahul Gandhi on Monday, before leading the INDIA bloc’s ‘Dilli Chalo’ march to the Supreme Court, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Two days earlier, the Delhi Police had cracked down on a protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), detaining thousands, including its national convener Abhijit Dipke and co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. The INDIA bloc’s march drew a large crowd. The CJP’s, meanwhile, was stopped even before it began.

Despite protesting over similar issues — first, demanding the ouster of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union Education Minister over the NEET paper leaks, and now, seeking Kumar’s resignation over SIR — the Congress and the CJP have kept their distance. The difference is starkly visible in their approach and, more tellingly, their ‘vibe’.

At CJP-led protests, organised by the youth-led pressure group, Gen Z protesters bring their individual style to the streets, reflected in everything from their attire to their slogans. The Congress-led protest on Monday, meanwhile, carried the old-school ‘kurta-pyjama’ vibe of traditional street politics. One drew people from different walks of life, seemingly united by the issue at hand; the other was a political spectacle with one eye on the issue and the other on the next election cycle. The common denominator, meanwhile, has been AISA’s fierce president, Neha Bora.

Despite keeping their distance, the two seem to be borrowing from each other’s protest language.

During Monday’s ‘Dilli Chalo’ march led by the Congress, one of the most repeated slogans was “Jab jab Modi darta hai, police ko aage karta hai” (Whenever Modi gets scared, he sends the police in his place) — a slogan that gained traction during the CJP-led protest earlier this year. Gandhi also waved a doll depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Another CJP slogan that rang out at the INDIA bloc protest was “56-inch ka chhota bandar, Bal Narendra, Bal Narendra.”

And then there was the imagery. One of the most viral pictures from the march showed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wearing a Batman mask. At the CJP protest earlier this year, too, protesters had turned up wearing masks of Batman, Spider-Man and Superman, bringing what looked like an entire superhero universe to the streets.

The CJP, meanwhile, has taken up the issue of ‘vote chori’, demanding the CEC’s resignation over alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls — an issue the Congress has been mobilising around since last year. The slogan “Vote chor, gaddi chor”, often heard at CJP protests, also echoes the Congress’s ‘Vote Chori’ campaign.

Meanwhile, Gandhi has said there are no parallel protests, but “one protest”. It’ll be interesting to see whether they become more distinct or similar in the future.