Cockroach Politics and the Fog of Protest: A Bahujan Introspection

Introduction: Looking Beyond the Fog of Protest

The recent protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) have emerged as one of the largest youth-led mobilisations in contemporary India. The movement is primarily centred on allegations of corruption surrounding the NEET examination, including paper leaks, irregularities in the examination process, and the suicides of students allegedly linked to this crisis. The principal demand emerging from these protests has been the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

At first glance, these demands appear legitimate. Every democratic society must insist upon transparency, accountability, and fairness in public examinations. However, while supporting democratic accountability, Bahujan students and communities must also carefully examine the ideological and structural limitations of these kinds of mass protests. Mass protest movements often create situations that military theorists describe as the "fog of war." Similarly, mass protests can create a "fog of protest," where immediate grievances overshadow deeper needs of the structural realities.

This article argues that while the NEET paper leak controversy deserves public attention and government accountability at the highest level, limiting the movement to the resignation of one minister risks misunderstanding the nature of the political, social, and ideological challenge confronting India from institutional capture by the Brahminical Hindutva fascist BJP-RSS ecosystem. The paper leak is not the disease itself; it is merely one symptom of deeper rot which needs a much deeper systemic institutional transformation.

NEET and the Manufactured Nature of ‘Merit’ Based Competitive Exams

NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) is the national entrance examination for medical education in India. Every year, millions of students compete for a limited number of seats in medical colleges. However, participation in NEET is itself marred by social, economic, and cultural inequality.

The NEET examination and its competitive exam ecosystem—including coaching institutions, study material, examination patterns, digital resources, and English-language educational infrastructure—are overwhelmingly accessible to India's privileged social, educational, and economic groups. Although students from all caste categories appear for the all-India level examination, the overwhelming beneficiaries of this ecosystem continue to be socially and economically privileged sections possessing substantial cultural, linguistic, educational, and financial capital to navigate through the demanding nature of such exams.

The assumption underlying the current protests is that NEET represents a fundamentally fair and meritocratic examination whose only problem is corruption and paper leaks deserves careful scrutiny. Idea of merit does not emerge independently of social, political, economic, and cultural conditions of any community. Educational achievement is deeply influenced by caste, class, gender, language, geography, parental education, access to coaching, digital infrastructure, financial stability, nutrition, and educational quality. Millions of Bahujan students studying in state education boards, particularly in regional languages, continue to face structural disadvantages before they even enter the examination hall for such competitive examinations. Their educational journey begins from an unequal social, educational, and economic position. Tamil Nadu's Justice A. K. Rajan Committee highlighted these inequalities by demonstrating that students educated in state boards and regional languages, particularly those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, likely face more systemic challenges in succeeding in these exams than those students who have access to systemic backup to perform better.

Consequently, discussions about NEET cannot merely revolve around paper leaks. It must also examine whether the examination itself reproduces existing social, economic and educational inequalities while presenting itself as a ‘neutral instrument of meritocracy’.

The Protest's Limited Political Horizon

Most participants in the current CJP protests identify the principal opponent as either Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Consequently, the demand for ministerial resignation has become the central political objective. However, this framing significantly narrows the scope of political, social and cultural analysis of the Brahminical fascist BJP-RSS regime in today’s India.

Ideologically driven institutional manipulation, systemic corruption and ineffectiveness of various public institutions in India witnessed over the last decade extend far beyond one minister or one government department. Educational institutions, universities, research bodies, cultural organisations, bureaucratic-judicial appointments, curriculum design, public broadcasting media institutions, and multiple constitutional bodies have undergone systematic ideological restructuring in Modi’s India, reproducing the social, political, economic and cultural Brahminical Hindutva ecosystem of RSS.

This ideological manipulation of public institutions cannot be understood merely as governmental inefficiency, such as paper leaks. Rather, it reflects the outcomes of a long-term ideological project of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), from which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as its political arm.

The BJP and its governments function not merely as an electoral party but as the political arm of a execute broader ideological ecosystem of the RSS. Consequently, removing one minister cannot reverse the ideological capture of institutions by RSS. The NEET paper leak is therefore not the disease itself. It is only one manifestation of the deeper institutional crisis generated by the BJP-RSS Brahminical Hindutva project.

Issue-Based Protest Versus Structural Transformation

The leadership of the Cockroach Janata Party appears to practice politically correct tactics of avoiding ideologically contentious questions to ensure issue-based, broad-based popular mobilisation. Such an approach undoubtedly broadens mass participation. Consequently, the movement remains narrowly focused upon examination irregularities and ministerial accountability while largely avoiding broader questions concerning caste, institutional capture, ideological manipulation of public institutions, and structural inequalities. However, this political decision of the leaders of CJP has simultaneously weakened the movement's transformative potential in addressing the fundamental political, social, cultural, and economic pressing issues.

Issue-based politics often succeeds in mobilising large numbers. Yet, without structural analysis, it rarely produces lasting structural change.

Mass Movement’s Politically Correct Politics of Caste Blindness

Many students and parents participating in these protests genuinely seek fairness and a sense of educational reforms. However, many simultaneously oppose reservations and affirmative action for SC, ST, OBC Bahujan students in educational institutions. This contradiction remains largely unaddressed by the CJP protest leadership. By avoiding explicit positions on caste inequality, the movement risks creating space for future anti-reservation mobilisations by BJP -RSS ecosystem around so called "equal opportunity" and "merit." History demonstrates that demands for formal equality frequently conceal deeply unequal social, economic, cultural and political realities in the Indian context. Without confronting the caste system directly, meritocratic discourse in educational institutions can become a vehicle for reinforcing existing caste privilege, which works in strengthening Brahminical Hindutva educational vision.

The Rise of ‘Jai Bhim’ Slogan and Ambedkar's Iconography in Mass Protests

One of the most remarkable developments within CJP protests has been the widespread use of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's image and the revolutionary salutation "Jai Bhim." This represents an important cultural moment in Indian social, political, and cultural parlance. Few would have imagined two decades ago that Ambedkar's iconography would become so visible and so popular within mainstream youth-led protest politics.

Although many social, political, and cultural observers and scholars consider it a welcoming sign in terms of strengthening popular public consciousness in terms of the ideas of social justice, constitutional values, and awareness of young Indian citizens about their democratic rights, this sudden embrace of the iconography of Dr. Ambedkar and its popularity also raises important questions.

Many participants enthusiastically employ Ambedkar's image while simultaneously rejecting—or remaining indifferent toward—his radical critique of caste, Brahminism, capitalism, cultural, gender and religiously based hierarchy present within Hinduism. Dr. Ambedkar is increasingly celebrated as a ‘rights-based constitutional icon’ in the CJP protest, while his revolutionary vision for transforming Indian society from its very foundation by annihilation of Brahminical social, cultural, political order and psychological legitimacy within Indian society remains selectively ignored.

Such selective appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar’s iconography into mass protests as a mere symbolic figure detached from the radical intellectual, social, and political vision he actually represented reflects the fundamental weakness in the CJP mass protests. One must know that Ambedkar's philosophy demands far more than constitutional rights. For Bahujan communities, this distinction is extremely important. Ambedkar's image cannot be separated from Ambedkar's radical philosophy. It calls for the complete destruction of caste hierarchy, democratisation of socio-economic life, gender equality, social fraternity, rational scientific inquiry, and the reconstruction of Indian public morality itself.

Ambedkar as ‘Sanitised Symbol’ or Ambedkar as ‘Revolutionary Philosophy’?

The sudden widespread embrace of Dr. Ambedkar's image presents both opportunity and danger for Bahujan masses. If "Jai Bhim" becomes merely another symbolic protest slogan detached from Ambedkar's radical intellectual vision, its power as a radical symbol for fundamental transformation of Indian society will gradually disappear.

The organisers and participants of contemporary protest movements therefore bear an ethical responsibility while embracing Dr. Ambedkar’s iconography in mass protests. Embracing Ambedkar's image requires accepting a commitment to radical equality and universal human dignity beyond caste, religion, class, ethnicity, language, gender, or geography.

Otherwise, Ambedkar's iconography risks becoming politically fashionable while morally empty jargon. This risks the danger of losing its ethical and moral currency in the Indian public consciousness. In such a situation, the lower caste, lower class Bahujan masses would lose their only organic symbol of protest, which has an agency to demand accountability in the public and private lives of Indian society.

The Political Cost for the Bahujan Masses

The greatest danger of reducing Dr. Ambedkar to symbolic politics will ultimately be borne by the Bahujan masses themselves. The OBCs, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Nomadic Tribes, Denotified Tribes, religious minorities, women, workers, peasants, and youth derive enormous moral courage from Ambedkar's emancipatory imagination. If that imagination is diluted into a generic constitutional symbol disconnected from anti-caste transformation, Bahujan politics loses its most powerful organic symbol for protest.

The erosion of Ambedkar's ethical authority would constitute a profound political, social and cultural setback to the hard-earned gains of progressive, secular, democratic anti-caste Bahujan civil rights movements.

Selective Outrage and the Indian Urban Middle-Class Public Sphere

Indian public protests have historically demonstrated patterns of selective moral outrage. Urban middle-class protests often receive enormous media visibility because they emerge from socially and economically privileged locations capable of shaping public, political, and cultural discourse.

The current NEET protests illustrate this phenomenon. At the very same time when nationwide attention focuses upon examination irregularities, tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh continue their protest against the Ken–Betwa River Linking Project, fearing displacement, ecological destruction, and loss of livelihoods. Yet these struggles rarely occupy national headlines and broader public imagination.

Similarly, India's collective response to gender violence has often reflected deep-rooted social inequalities and its selective outrage. The Nirbhaya case generated unprecedented national outrage against crime against women. Yet comparable public mobilisation was largely absent following the brutal rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. Even today, numbers showing sexual violence against women belonging to marginalised caste groups represent the grim reality of caste-based violence as a matter of everyday occurrence. These examples suggest that India's public conscience and its collective acts of empathy and apathy often remain limited along the lines of caste, class, geography, and social privilege.

India has from 2014 has consistently seen suicides of students from Dalit, Tribal, and OBC bahujan communities within educational institutions. The systemic exploitation of these first-generation Bahujan students runs rampant in the Indian educational institutional system. But when these instances occur, it is mostly ignored by the conscience of Indian urban middle-class masses as fringe incidents.

Dr. Ambedkar described caste as a system that fragments moral responsibility and corrupts the moral conscience of the Indian masses itself. The graded hierarchy of caste weakens the capacity of Indian society to empathise equally with all human suffering. The current protests inadvertently reproduce this selective moral economy.

The NGO-isation of Social Movements

Since the economic liberalisation policy of the 1990s, India has witnessed the growing NGO-isation of social movements. Campaigns and mass protests of these movements often present themselves as "non-political," "civil society initiatives," or "citizen-centric issue-based movements." The India Against Corruption movement during Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal agitation represented one such example. The Cockroach Janata Party appears to continue this tradition. Its leadership frequently describes itself and the nature of its mass protest as non-political and issue-based in nature.

While such positioning may increase mass public acceptability of protests, it also deprives society of an opportunity for ideological political education and organisation building of youth in to ideology driven new political party, which is an important byproduct of mass social movements. This way, citizens only limit their opposition to issue-based corruption without understanding the larger political philosophies shaping institutions and the way repressive institutions practice their power against the masses. They become protesters without becoming organised, politically educated actors.

This creates movements capable of expressing anger but incapable of developing long-term ideological organisations which are central instruments to effectively fight fascist state machinery. It is important to note that mobilising the masses into popular protest movements is not equal to organising the masses into well-structured, ideology-driven social, cultural and political organisations.

Why Ideology Matters

One must understand that authoritarian fascist political formations are fundamentally ideological in nature, and unless they are fully defeated in the intellectual realm of ideology, they have the capacity to recapture the institutions with a much more repressive firm grip. The BJP-RSS ecosystem is not merely an electoral alliance. It represents a long-term ideological Brahminical Hindutva vision operating simultaneously through educational institutions, cultural organisations, media, bureaucracy, military, police, religious networks, think tanks, and political parties. Such a movement cannot be effectively challenged through ideologically neutral mass protests alone.

Popular protest movements lacking ideological clarity often dissolve after achieving limited objectives, while ideological organisations continue expanding their influence over society. The desire to create universally acceptable protest movements frequently results in ideological dilution.

Hence, anyone seeking systemic transformation must focus their attention towards disciplined, organised, ideologically grounded political, social, cultural work.

Understanding Brahminical Hindutva Fascism Beyond Ministerial Accountability

Expecting accountability from a Brahminical fascist ideologically driven BJP-RSS ecosystem solely through the resignation of one minister fundamentally completely misunderstands the nature of authoritarian fascist political formations like BJP-RSS. Ethnonationalist authoritarian movements rarely operate according to liberal democratic norms of public accountability. Instead, they seek to completely undermine it by reshaping the public institutions, public morality, historical memory, education, and cultural imagination of the masses.

Consequently, democratic resistance must extend beyond electoral politics. Authoritarian systems must be defeated not only in the theatre of electoral politics but more importantly they must be squarely defeated in the intellectual, cultural, social, and ideological fields of Indian national life.

Justice & Accountability Beyond Minister's Resignation

Democratic transition alone cannot guarantee democratic reconstruction. It needs a combination of individual-centric accountability clubbed with institutional reforms. Individuals who have direct-indirect ties with the RSS organisational ecosystem and who are also responsible for enabling ethnocentric authoritarianism by facilitating institutional capture within political, bureaucratic, judicial, educational, business, police, military, and cultural institutions must be held legally accountable. Historical experiences such as the Nuremberg Trials and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission illustrate different approaches toward criminal prosecution, documenting abuses, assigning responsibility, and rebuilding democratic legitimacy.

Any future democratic transformation in India must similarly confront institutional complicity rather than merely replacing governments. Holding individuals legally accountable for their deliberate acts of violence as part of state and non-state actors is an important deterrent for the future. It must also be supported by the reconstruction of institutions negatively affected by institutional capture by fascist Brahminical Hindutva forces.

Without mechanisms of both reformative and retributive justice, Brahminical Hindutva social, cultural, political and bureaucratic institutional networks can easily regroup and re-establish themselves within Indian society.

Conclusion: Winning ‘Issue Specific Battles’ Is Not Enough

The Cockroach Janata Party protests have succeeded in bringing public attention to the failures surrounding NEET. They have mobilised students, revived democratic participation, dented the fear-mongering tactics of the authoritarian Hindutva regime and contributed to a renewed culture of public protest. These achievements deserve recognition and appreciation. However, Bahujan society must avoid confusing tactical victories with strategic systemic transformation of India’s political, social, cultural and economic life.

Winning the resignation of a minister, exposing a paper leak, or securing administrative reforms may constitute important battles. Yet the larger war concerns the ideological, cultural, educational, political, and institutional transformation of India. Unless protest movements move beyond immediate grievances and confront the deeper structures of Brahminical Hindutva, caste hierarchy, institutional capture, and unequal notions of meritocracy, temporary victories may ultimately strengthen the very system they seek to challenge.

History repeatedly demonstrates that authoritarian movements are defeated not only through mass protests, but through sustained ideological organisation, political education, institutional reconstruction, and ethical commitment to radical democracy.

The challenge before the Bahujan masses, therefore, is not simply to participate in mass protests, but to ensure that every protest becomes a site of political education, ideological clarity, and transformative social-cultural imagination. Only then can victories in individual battles contribute to winning the larger war to reclaim the essence of Indian democracy.