NEW DELHI: While various new faces have emerged in the ongoing sprees of protests that began with the one led by the Cockroach Janta Party, not all of their supporters seem to be on the same page. While two of the most prominent among them, CJP co-founder Abhijeet Dipke and AISA’s national president Neha Bora, have often shown support for each other, their supporters have been questioning their methodology and even intent.
In the latest series of spats, some on Twitter questioned why CJP’s stir in Mumbai remained a success, whereas those protesting at Jantar Mantar faced detention and even assault.
Responding to a tweet by a Congress worker questioning why “Cocroaches can roam free in Mumbai, but when NSUI & IYC hit the streets they are detained”, CJP’s Saurabh Das, who too shot to fame during the CJP’s Jantar Mantar protest, replied, “If you guys are detained immediately, then you must rethink your strategy. Don’t blame others for you failures.” The reply, however, was severely criticised with several posting videos of Bora being dragged during protests and detained in the national capital, while people accused Das of being “arrogant” and “victim shaming”.
In another tweet, when a user said, “Maturity is realising Neha Bora is more talented than Abhijeet Dipke”, the CJP founder quoted the tweet and wrote, “Agreed.” Bora soon replied to Dipke tweet, saying, “Solidarity, nor comparison. We fight this together.” To that, Dipke replied, “Inquilab Jindabad (long live revolution)”.
Reacting to the primary tweet, AAP leader Saurabh Bharwaj also jumped on the bandwagon and said, “The Darbari Ecosystem did not support Jantar Mantar movement from Day 1. They ridiculed Jantar Mantar protest from day one. They declared it a flop. When Jantar Mantar became a huge success, they tried to woo some side players to appropriate the Jantar Mantar movement.”
The “side player” jibe, however, soon drew heavy criticism from student wings and Congress supporters who accused him of undermining Neha Bora’s actual groundwork in the movement.
Another popular youth face, Gurmehar Kaur, who joined the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), the youth wing of the Indian National Congress, during the protest, has also been active on the streets. Uday Bhanu Chib, the national president of the IYC, has also been acting in these protests.