Abhijeet Dipke and Maharastrian legacy*
The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by Dipke online, after the infamous CJI Surya Kant's insensitive reference to unemployed students as cockroaches. The CJI's role in history will never be for his contributions as a judge( which is in itself questionable) but for this quote. In a way he , in history, may be one of the founding fathers of CJP!!!
Coming back to Dipke.
A Maharastrian. One cannot but recollect Tilak , Gokhale and Ambedkar, three Marathi stalwarts of Indian independence.
They ignited the consciousness of the then Bharat of many fiefdoms, a land mass without a boundary, ruled for ages by monarchs of all faiths. Ignited it and made it realise what freedom was. Gandhi then gave it mass appeal. Rest is history.
Can we then look at Dipke, the modern Marathi manus ( inspite of the facts he is in US of A now, but then so was Gandhi, Nehru too, both educated there. Gandhi worked there too) as the modern Tilak, Gokhale or Ambedkar?
Not yet!
The three strived for long. Hard. Its not easy to match the legacy of each and that too in different times and era.
Dipke has just started and won his first victory over fascism, or at least over injustice.
Fascism and injustice of the local type.The Hindutav RSS political and cultural neofascist movement that has gripped India for over a decade now. Led by a megalomaniac called Modi or a tro called Modani or even a quartet that may be called ShaMoDani.
Can Dipke emulate the maharastrian stalwarts? He does have the mechanical instruments for mass communication and inspiration called social media. He had the youth responding to his call , the GenZ. But does he have the idealogical depth, the conviction to sustain and provide nourishment to the movement. Or, alternately, can he locate in him or even among others, a Gandhi.
Can he handle the might of power, money and complete control of media, educational and justice system and the new devilish instrument on the block called the AI , of the ShaMoDanis and their andh bhakts? By using, for example, Ahimsa or non violence?
Will India gain freedom from this tyranny?
These questions will be answered in time. Time travel into future is still a theory, so we wait.
If and when it comes most of us who value freedom and modernity must lend a hand. For many Indians have learned including the modern generation , the GenZ have all got a glimpse of what the alternative is like. The better have .
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