Gen Z, memes and cockroach fantasies: Pass me some revolution, please

India is home to 1.4 billion people. These billion people carry a billion dreams for India. Some dream of a stronger and more prosperous nation. Others want India to lead the technological frontiers. There are many who dream of India becoming a permanent member of the Security Council or a great sporting nation. Among these billion dreams there are also a few who dream of a revolution in India. A bloody or a bloodless revolution, a quick or a protracted revolution, an Instagram or a YouTube revolution. Whatever the shape, size or format, they dream of a revolution that will result in a regime change.

This bunch has been praying at the altar of every new trend, every new fad and every new flavour of the season. They have appealed to foreign powers through op-ed columns in global publications. They have prostrated themselves before every second-rate comedian, every third-rate satirist, every fourth-rate influencer and every fifth-rate podcaster. They have even christened themselves as cockroaches. Unfortunately for them, no revolution is in sight.

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A revolution that will wash away all the ‘bad people’ simply refuses to happen. It is a pity they cannot pray to Hindu gods, for that would tarnish their spotless hypocritical secular façade. If they could pray to a Hindu deity, it would dawn on them that time is cyclical. It waits for none and stops for none. The wheel of time continuously moves; new establishments become old and old establishments move on, giving space to the new. And the cycle continues without any disruption of revolution. Time itself is a revolution.

What is this fanciful revolution that is so desired but simply refuses to arrive? To understand this, it is important to understand the essence of India that is Bharat. It is my long-held belief that to make sense of a complex and diverse society like India, it is important to do two things: travel through the length and breadth of India speaking to ordinary people, and understand election verdicts correctly without any bias.

If you travel through India as I do, stopping on my way to talk to ordinary people, you will notice that everyone, everywhere, is complaining about something. Price rises, broken roads, traffic woes, corruption — the list is unending. These are people across demographics, including the so-called Gen Z. They complain, they protest, they write lengthy Facebook and Instagram posts, they make YouTube videos, they speak up. They voice dissatisfaction and dissent. Interestingly, most ordinary people are comfortable speaking against the government without any fear of retribution.

Second, election after election, India is throwing up decisive verdicts. Whether it is state elections or general elections, people have immense faith in the power of the ballot. In recent elections in Bengal, they gave the BJP an unbelievable majority. In the same election cycle, in Tamil Nadu, all gains of the BJP were washed away and its vote share sank to the bottom. In Assam, the BJP won a decisive victory. In Kerala, Congress won decisively.

In the 2019 general election, the BJP was rewarded with a majority that made its way into the record books. In 2024, the same BJP was handed a scare by being kept well below a simple majority. The people of India vote neither mindlessly nor callously. India votes wisely, keeping its political class on its toes all the time.

It is the freedom of ordinary folks on the street to speak against the ruling government, and the same people then voting according to their wisdom, that keeps revolutions away from India. India’s loud, messy and often chaotic disagreements are not signs of democratic decay; they are precisely what inoculate the country against revolution. In a society where dissent spills onto the streets, into television studios and across dinner tables, revolution finds little room to masquerade as liberation. India does not have a spectacular record on freedom of expression. Some laws curtailing freedom of speech are atrocious, but by and large no ordinary person is hounded for speaking his or her mind.

We hear a lot about the lack of freedom of expression in India. Think about where you hear and read this complaint. At a barber’s shop? In a restaurant? In a metro? None of these. You will hear people complaining in these places, but not about freedom of expression. They are complaining about improvements in their lives that they expect.

So where do we hear about the lack of freedom of speech? In op-eds in international and national dailies, in television debates, on paid podcasts, in privileged stand-up comedy shows and in the endless quota of memes made for social media. The irony of this is lost on most people. Imagine complaining about censorship in China in the largest-selling newspaper in China.

People complaining about freedom of expression in India are essentially complaining about the extent of freedom they have to flout laws. This is an ongoing and dynamic debate in any democracy. The friction between personal freedom and the law of the land will always exist, but this friction, by definition, indicates that dissent is alive and democracy is functioning. No one ever heard of a television debate on freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia.

A parody meme-fest about the Chief Justice of India calling India’s youth “cockroaches” was suddenly presented as the biggest, grandest and most organic voice of discontent against the government. What is unclear is how a protest against the CJI suddenly became a protest against the government of the day. Let us concede for a moment that a parody movement may have started as a genuine expression of dissent against the CJI’s words. Soon, however, sensing an opportunity, the bunch of ‘revolution seekers’ latched on to the joke. Before one could spell cockroach, the Cockroach Janata Party was created. Is it a registered organisation in India? I have serious doubts about that. Its founders do not believe that there exists a real world out there where rules and norms must be followed. They believe only in social media engagement. What became a real joke eventually was how, within a week of its formation, the CJP was covered by the BBC, FT, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera and the rest. It amassed millions of followers across social media platforms. Those of you who believe all this was organic, I have a mausoleum in Agra to sell to you.

There is nothing inherently problematic about the CJP’s existence. But those who have attached themselves to it in the hope of ushering in a revolution are likely headed towards another disappointment. India is not a country shaped by revolutions. It is shaped by elections that are noisy, imperfect and often frustrating. India is also shaped by its commitment to freedom of expression that, despite its flaws, remains deeply alive and remarkably resilient.

As far as Gen Z revolutions are concerned, India is already seeing one. In memes, parodies, jokes and stand-up routines. That is where the Gen Z revolution starts and ends.

In a meme.

(The author is a columnist and political commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)