The time has come, the respected Sarsanghchalak said recently, to talk of many things. Yes indeed. The times are changing so fast that while you craft the day’s headlines, it turns out what was deemed major news is suddenly trailing or has been taken off air as fake. Two trademark applications were filed for Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a satirical political brand inspired by a chance remark from the head of India’s judiciary and dubbed by Shashi Tharoor as a party of people frustrated with the government. Now, its X account with over 200k followers has been suddenly closed down. Its Instagram account which has acquired over 15 million followers within five days, remains live so far. Driven by a barrage of critical statements from various political civil rights bodies, two of the highest dignitaries in India: the prime minister and the chief justice issued hasty personal denials of stories that seemed real because they appeared in the mainstream media. Both eminent personalities had to defend themselves as having been misquoted by the media and expressed their deep distress that those misquoted remarks went on to generate unnecessary hatred and panic among the citizens. The first story regarding a seven-point cost saving advice the prime minister had broadcast just before leaving for State tours to five nations was immediately taken note of. The story as reported later seemed to suggest having hinted at hard times ahead and some drastic measures for shoring up a troubled economy. As alleged in media his suggestions about possibly imposing a temporary ban on gold buying and taxing all foreign travel by Indians and urging Indians to use less oil in their vehicles and kitchens, the prime minister announced “did not have an iota of truth” and were ‘totally false’ even though the story had appeared simultaneously in a major TV news channel and on the site of an eminent news agency, both deemed loyal to the government. Both thereafter quickly withdrew the report with apologies. But the damage was done. The opposition took to the media demanding answers while saying that the Indian diplomatic stance, unchanged for decades, needed an overhaul given the new power equations forming across the globe. Also read: CJI’s ‘Cockroaches’ Remark Does Not Bode Well for DemocracyThe second story that was denied after it sparked public fury related to some oral observations made by the chief justice of India during a court hearing, where he was quoted as calling India’s jobless youth as ‘cockroaches’ and pests’ that were attacking and hollowing the System from within. The chief justice also defended himself by saying his views were misreported. His observations were aimed only at those who have somehow entered ‘noble professions’ like the bar and the media by using fake or bogus degrees. He holds he added, India’s youth ‘the pillars of India’, in the highest regard and that they too have ’great regard and respect’ for him. Truth be told, despite the quick denials the nation is still struggling with the media quotes. This was also aggravated by a certain mishandling of certain aggressive sections of the aggressive Nordic media by certain high officials accompanying the prime ministerial delegation. The evasion of expected pressers and the foreign service officials’ reaction to questions from a female journalist has undeniably dented India’s carefully crafted image as a major emergent economic super power with ancient and robust democratic traditions and a free media. With another globally picked report about one of India’s biggest corporate leaders striking a deal with the US government and being freed from serious charges of bribery, a lot of euphoria generated by the Indian women performing classical dances and rituals from India at the airport, the NRI mobs hysterically calling the PM, ”our god”, the long walks in gardens and gifts of chocolates and silk began to appear somewhat trite, if not totally over the top. What our diplomats and jurists need to realise is that human beings have basic notions of right and wrong , justice and injustice acquired not through media images but as children within families whether joint or a nuclear one, So in times of stress and decline we turn to the family held notions as our moral touchstone. It is this fact that has altered public opinions sharply about the concepts of nation and the System as being different. So when someone uses the word System to denote the nation parties like the Cockroach Janata Party beginning to take shape. Also read: X Blocks Account of Satire Outfit ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ as IB Raises ‘National Security Concerns’This morality that my grandmother called ,‘Dhi’ (wisdom that is embedded in human beings at birth) will not accept lies and injustice either from the media or the rulers beyond a point. ‘Dhi ka Nyay’ still marks all Indian tales about legendary rulers from Raja Bali to king Vikramaditya who ranked it above themselves. It is this principle of Dhi, that Yudhishthir describes as the Dharma, that holds a nation together and unites the peoples effortlessly. When asked, “When does a nation die?” Yudhishthir, the son of Dharma, replies, “A nation dies when true Justice (Nyay) goes extinct.”Denials from the powerful, threats instead of promises of help smack the common folk as stark injustice especially in an age shaken by long wars, facing imminent scarcities and grave environmental degradation.Cockroach Party may be a short lived phenomena, but its popularity is proof that a few symbolic shows of cultural solidarity or State largess, and punishing askers of questions as hostile to the entire System and notions of patriotism, have begun to seem worn out and pathetic to Gen Z. In a nation where almost 60% families are living on free rations, unemployment is endemic and rising, if people are asked to start cooking on charcoal or wood, work from home and cut down consumption of cooking oil, can any section of the vast numbers of restless, jobless young roaming the streets be discarded as pests ?On the global front, Gita Gopinath of Harvard was quick to point out the hypocrisy that a major meeting between the US and China delegations headed by world leaders had no women present. Why did women not even make a guest appearance ?If any State wears such an obvious male face, it has stopped being a nation with a constitution that guarantees equal agency to its women and protection for its weak . Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.