Taste of their own medicine: How Gen Z reels are catching up to BJP

Hyderabad: During the height of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led students’ protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Gen Z protesters flooded social media with creative memes, reels, and posters, demanding accountability from the Ministers holding office. Amid the memes and posters were some placards and videos calling out the governing party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).In one of the most collective displays of dissent by the youth of India since the anti-CAA and NRC protests, the nation’s Gen Z showed the government that they can demand accountability through more than just straightforward and serious slogans.Several BJP workers and supporters had made calls against the student protests because many interpreted the movement as a threat to the party.CJP X handle used as platform to spread memesBefore the Cockroach Janta Party announced protests to demand the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the platform was widely used as an account that would share videos andEven after gaining a massive following and amid the protests when Jantar Mantar was boiling with calls for Pradhan’s istifa (resignation), the satirical outfit with the handle “Cockroach is Back” would post sarcastic posts targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After Modi shared a video at midnight addressing the protests after months-long silence, the CJP commented on X, “Apna kaam chhod kar sab kuch kar lete hai mahamanav ji (‘His greatness’ manages to do everything, except his own work).”Right before that, CJP had uploaded a compilation of Modi’s public addresses promising action against anyone who endangered the youth’s future, referring to the “paper leak mafia.”“Baate bolke bhool jaate hain humesha Modiji (Modi-ji always forgets what he says),” the post on X read.While staging a dharna at Jantar Mantar, the organisation had repeatedly claimed that “BJP goons” infiltrated the protest site to incite violence and questioned what the Modi government was really afraid of.Among CJP social media posts were hundreds of thousands of reels and posters directly confronting the saffron party-led government.Kangana Ranaut slams Gen Z as ‘gutter generation,’ asks ‘who is birthing them’Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut responded to the protesters’ use of “puke-inducing,” “jarring,” and “crass” language in reels, sparking a poitical stir.“Never in my life have I seen so much ugliness in one place. These reels from Gen Z protests are puke-inducing. The way they speak and the kind of language they are using… never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at once,” she wrote on her Instagram stories.She questioned the students’ upbringing, asking, “Ewwww who is birthing and raising them?” She said that India is a country that is a place of diversely beautiful people draped in elegance and rooted in cultural sophistication. However, the protesters call themselves “cockroaches and look/behave like them as well,” she said. “There is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness.”Ranaut added that she was “scarred from these reels” and needed some “healing, digital detox.”Later in Parliament premises, the Himachal Pradesh MP said, “Our 75-year-old Prime Minister was targeted, and filthy abuse was hurled at his late mother. We, too, have participated in student protests. But what kind of students are these, and what kind of obscene language are they using? In what way do they resemble students?”“If these individuals need Supreme Court lawyers or legal counsel in the future, will their parents be able to afford it? They do not have the means to afford it themselves. We have been building our own careers since the age of sixteen. We have never been a burden on our parents..As a society, this is completely unacceptable to us.” CJP responds, says they did more for the country than herMeanwhile, Cockroach Janta Party chief spokesperson Saurav Das said that CJP did more for the country than she has. He said that her own party does not take her seriously, and neither does the younger generation, including Gen Z and Gen Alpha.“Look, even people within Kangana Ranaut’s own party don’t pay much attention to her or take her seriously, so why should we? I don’t think anyone in Gen Z, Gen Alpha, or any younger generation takes her seriously or listens to what she says,” Das said when asked about the BJP MP’s comments. Emphasising that Ranaut is a politician, Das said her choice of words was inappropriate, adding that she should keep in mind that Gen Z worked to restore faith in India’s democracy — something she hasn’t done.“Gen Z has done far more for this country than you have, and they continue to do so. Gen Z has worked to restore faith in the nation’s democracy- something you haven’t done. So, you should definitely keep that in mind,” he said.Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS.