cjp protest

The near-blanket withdrawal of FIRs against violent CJP protestors, and written assurances, may indicate to critics and the Opposition that the Modi government is on the backfoot. However, it is worth remembering that law and order and the burden of maintaining peace also lie on the government in office.

While Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla repeatedly stressed that the government is set to introduce the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, popularly referred to as the Anti-paper leak bill, and debate is to be on in Parliament, the opposition MPs continued sloganeering, screeching and causing unwarranted disruption. 

Yogendra Yadav's call for a "politics of resistance" and his assertion that democracy should run "from the streets, not Parliament" raise fundamental questions about whether permanent street mobilisation is being elevated above India's constitutional framework of representative democracy.

Although Cockroach Janta Party protestors are now issuing “Nepal bana denge” threats, indicating Bangladesh- and Nepal-like violent regime changes in the last two years, CJP’s origins go back to a meeting attended by ‘andolanjeevi’ Yogendra Yadav a decade ago.