As the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) organised its second major protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday, apart from the key issues being raised by protesters, the posters they brought also drew spotlight.
The demonstrators, led by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, used unserious memes to raise serious issues at the rally. Pop culture references took centre stage as people held up the banners they brought along. From the cult favourite ‘Gopi Vahu’ washing a laptop meme to the recently viral #Melodi, there were hardly any references the youth-led protest missed. Follow live updates on the CJP protest here.
A look at a select few posters that caught the eye.
A reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in May also featured in one of the posters. “Paper leak kab band hoga? (When will the paper leak stop?) Melodi Khao, Khud Jaan Jao,” one of the poster read.
When PM Modi met Meloni in Italy, he had gifted the leader a packet of Melody toffees. In the video, the Italian PM said, “PM Modi brought us a gift. It is Melody,” while holding the pack of chocolates. “Thank you for the gift,” she wrote as caption. The two were seen laughing the entire time. The single post has racked up over 13 million likes.
A recent political reference was also seen in one of the posters that said “Missing Raghav Chadha”. The former AAP leader recently jumped ship and joined the BJP alongwith with six others. The surprise merger of the seven Rajya Sabha MPs had raised many eyebrows in April.
Raghav Chadha, alongside leaders Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, had announced the merger of seven AAP MPs with the BJP.
Another interesting poster had the words “Rishte me toh hum tumhare malik hain, naam hai We the People of India” written on it.
This was the CJP’s second protest in Delhi, led by founder Abhijeet Dipke. The outfit was founded as a satire a few weeks back but soon became a sensation among the youth. Dipke, who was in Boston until earlier this month, recently came back and since been leading protests across India.
The key demand of these protests is the resignation of union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over discrepancies with examinations – the NEET-UG paper leak in May, and issues with the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system to check CBSE Class 12 board exam papers.
The protest took place on Saturday, just one day before the the NEET-UG re-exam on June 21.
High drama at CJP protest
While the protest was largely peaceful, some drama unfolded after 5pm as cops started asking protesters to vacate, saying the deadline for the protest was over. However, Abhijeet Dipke remained in place and continued to urge people to arrive at Jantar Mantar by 6pm to seek Pradhan’s resignation.
From the protest site, Dipke also issued a video message, alleging that police were going to arrest him.
He had called on supporters to carry a ‘thali’ (plate) and a ‘chamach’ (spoon), drawing comparisons with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal during the COVID-19 pandemic to bang utensils.