A new organisation is set up to focus attention on the government’s inefficiency and corruption. It catches the fancy of first a few hundred and then many more thousands of people who feel the same. A plan is made to hold a public agitation at Jantar Mantar. The government feels threatened.Sounds familiar? This happened in 2011, when the Anna Hazare’ India Against Corruption (IAC) ‘movement’ began. But 15 years later, it is also about the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which was spawned just two weeks ago and has already gained the support of millions.Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.There are similarities, but there are also differences, of course. There was no social media then, which has helped CJP gather millions of followers – 22 million on Instagram. The X account was blocked in India. The UPA government of Manmohan Singh did not react in this way – instead, it went out of its way to be accommodating and talk to the agitators and then remained frozen into inaction. Hazare was said to be a ‘Gandhian’ (on somewhat tenuous grounds), but the CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke is young, and speaks the language of his generation. He grabbed the title of Cockroach after Justice Surya Kant’s somewhat contentious description of unemployed youth as ‘cockroaches’A large number of ‘celebrities’ joined Hazare, but so far, fully aware that the Modi government does not tolerate dissent, no one, barring Ladakhi leader Sonam Wangchuk, has come forward openly to support CJP. Wangchuk, who just came out of jail has gained all India fame – backing the CJP is not to be ignored.Dipke, a member of the Dalit community, who founded the CJP from his base in Boston, has said that he could be arrested when he lands in Delhi to lead an agitation at Jantar Mantar. That may deter some of his supporters to come out in public, which tells us a key difference between the UPA and the Modi government. On the other hand, young supporters — Gen Z — may turn out in thousands, which would send a message to the government.The Modi government will be watching with some concern, but not simply because it is intolerant of protest and dissent.After the UPA government lost the 2014 elections and Narendra Modi rode in on his white charger, it slowly became clear what the game plan behind Anna Hazare and his agitation was. It emerged that Hazare’s numbers were swollen by a large number of RSS cadres who came out in support of his agitation.Then, one by one, the key faces of the Hazare team were rewarded by the BJP. Kiran Bedi, till then only seen as the honest cop, was sent as the governor of Pondicherry; Anupam Kher’s wife Kiran Kher was given a BJP ticket to the Lok Sabha elections, which she won; Kher himself made movies that were fully BJP aligned (The Accidental Prime Minister, Kashmir Files); Baba Ramdev set up businesses that prospered making him a billionaire and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar made grand predictions about the rupee touching Rs 40 to a dollar when Modi became the prime minister. And Hazare went back to his village, where he had been known to enforce prohibition by shaming young people and beating them up.Out of that movement also emerged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed by Arvind Kejriwal, who had said he would never join politics. AAP won the Delhi elections defeating the BJP and the Congress, which had controlled Delhi for a long time. Kejriwal has since become a thorn in Modi’s side. But he has also fought off allegations that he is the B team of the BJP and many of his political postures are Hindutva-oriented.Clearly, India Against Corruption achieved its objective of decapitating the Congress and installing the Modi government. Modi therefore knows the power of such mass movements – his parivar created the toolkit after all. Add to that the upsurge of Gen Z in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which led to political change in both the countries.The immediate demand of the CJP is to force Dharmendra Pradhan, under whose stewardship both CBSE and NEET examinations turned into fiascos, to resign. But who knows where it could lead. Modi is taking no chances.Rumours are already swirling that the CJP is a front for the Aam Aadmi Party. There is no evidence to prove that, but Kejriwal is known to be an organiser so that’s something that Modi and his team would certainly think about. The Modi government is known to clamp down on social media — India leads the world in the largest number of takedown orders — and it is no surprise that it reacted the way it did.But there is another aspect to the formation of the CJP. Its popularity could help it occupy the opposition space, nudging out not just the Congress but also the INDIA bloc and emerge as an alternative force. Like the IAC, the CJP could also have a fleeting existence, but it could create organisations and individuals who can then have a longer presence in Indian politics. Wangchuk, for example, is not from Gen Z but has enormous credibility in that cohort. He could emerge as a major figure who could attract many more supporters. That is something that the opposition parties must consider. It has already begun setting up a structure – spokespersons have been appointed and no doubt office bearers would be appointed soon.One way or the other, the CJP has caught the fancy of young Indians and got its moment in the sun. Whether it has the ability to create a lasting impact or remain a meme — here today gone tomorrow — remains to be seen.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.