The question lingering uppermost in every Indian’s mind is: how will the “Jantar Mantar movement” sustain itself after having achieved its goal of the ouster of a Union cabinet minister? Will the activists and cadres of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) be able to resist the temptation of going the Aam Adami Party way? Was Jantar Mantar just a ‘moment’ or does it have the potential to be a ‘movement?’ Will the conventional party politician seek to lure the brightest and the smartest of the Jantar Mantar lot into their lair? Will the democratic promise of the ‘cockroaches’’ success dissipate itself, leaving the Republic helpless and in the clutches of autocrats?All these questions nag the democratic Indian’s mind because what happened at Jantar Mantar was an unprecedented frontal challenge to the theology curated over the past 12 years. And, it would be unrealistic – and a grave mistake – to believe that the Modi Empire will turn the other cheek. Make no mistake about it: not only will every single tool of intimidation and harassment be deployed against the Jantar Mantar participants, but a ferocious campaign of disinformation, misinformation and outright lies will be unleashed. The Modi Empire knows very well that the Jantar Mantar crowd secured not just a cabinet minister’s resignation, but that it also drove home the message that it was possible to defy the imperial authority, its prescriptions and proscriptions. The empire will not go down without a fight; it will scratch and scrape and wound and hurt. On the other hand, there is still, curiously enough, no clarity – to apply the Deng Xiaoping test – as to whether the CJP cat is black or white; the challenge is how to ensure it continues to catch mice. It is, however, clear that those who congregated at Jantar Mantar and braved the police brutality on July 20 were not just the victims of a corrupt examination system, but also included many other different streams who are victims of the saffron-RSS-BJP-Modi theology. It was a temporary coalition of those belonging to Dalit and other marginalised and persecuted sections of the society, along with secular and progressive groups, and the Sangh’s ideological foes from the Left.It is imperative that this temporary convergence be converted into something more durable. The democratic challenge is to find ways of deepening this emotional, political and ideological solidarity that got forged on July 20. Unwittingly, our rulers that day brought into sharp focus a felt, lived but unspoken binary – a brutal, callous and imperious state pitted against the young, idealists, and the unintimidated. However strenuously the ruling regime may try to erase the memory of that day, July 20 has found a toehold in popular imagination, and, it has generated its own legitimacy. That solidarity can energise the collective itch to re-establish an inclusive sense of national belonging. And, only that solidarity can induce, even force, the political parties and their leaders to keep aside their well-cultivated eccentricities, egos and dogmas – and forge a united front. That, for now, appears to be tall order; but disciplined thinking and clear-headed counsel could help. There can be no illusion that any movement towards a united front would face classic techniques of suborning an opposition. Already, the saffron establishment has initiated an anti-Reservation campaign. Nothing original about it; the idea is to slice off the ‘upper’ caste among the Gen-Z away from the CJP crowd. “Merit” is being re-discovered and touted as the answer to our rulers’ abject failure to usher in acche din or the good days.In this resurrection of the anti-Reservation campaign is the visceral animosity towards any kind Dalit assertion. The “Jai Bheem” strain was unmistakable in the music of defiance heard at Jantar Mantar. And, then, there is old, familiar trope of the implacable ‘enemy’ – the protestor in the burkha or skull cap – who is inevitably part of any such democratic mobilisation. And, of course, there is the ever-present ‘foreign’ involvement charge. The cumulative threat to the ‘Sanatan’ culture from these ‘cockroaches’ will be flaunted. Protesters hold a portrait of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, near Jantar Mantar ahead of a protest march, in New Delhi, early Monday, July 20, 2026. Photo: PTI.The Jantar Mantar crowd produced an exhilarating imagination in refusing to cede agency to the saffron slogans. Not only the regime’s control over the street stands questioned, its monopoly over the narrative has been shattered. The polity stands poised for a ‘parivarthan’ or change.How to dislodge an elected regime from its perch? We do not do revolutions in India. Nor do we do Arab Springs here. We remain – and, must remain – a constitutional arrangement. But the July 20 solidarity should be continued to be tapped to drive out the sense of fear and timidity that has crippled all our constitutional institutions. The July 20 solidarity should give confidence to a functionary of the higher judiciary, the soldier, the policeman, the social activist and the average citizen to break out of decade-old self-inflicted cowardice. The ‘cockroaches’ have demonstrated how easy it is to rediscover one’s spine. Conversely, all those eager-beavers in the coercive agencies who do the politicians’ dirty jobs have been put on notice.Still, ultimately, it will depend on the custodians and practitioners of parliamentary politics to regroup in a purposive manner so as to liberate the polity from authoritarian clutches. The Jantar Mantar moment and movement was as much a defiance of the politics of dandagiri and dadagiri of the ruling regime, as it was an act of dissatisfaction with the opposition camp. The intractable clash of egos and ambitions among political leaders cannot be allowed to dilute and divide the July 20 solidarity. The ‘cockroaches’ should demand and ensure that all progressive, secular, and democratic forces and voices come together to reclaim the Republic. Harish Khare was editor-in-chief of The Tribune.