Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has criticised the Cockroach Janta Party protests, which were predominantly attended and led by the students. She has defended those beating the protestors among the students, saying that they must know every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Event Context
India’s Gen Z found themselves at the centre of the movement and global headlines in the last few weeks, with around 50,000 protestors taking to the streets of Jantar Mantar on July 20. It ultimately resulted in the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. (Also read: What does an ‘unserious’ generation’s serious protest look like? Memes, virality and talking points)
Kangana took to her Instagram Stories and wrote: “Protestors who are getting beaten and abused on the roads by common people because of their filthy and abusive reels. They must understand that jab bolte ho toh sunna bhi padega. Agar tum public property damage karte ho toh woh public bhi tumko damage karegi. Agar tumko desh aur leadership se problem hai aur tumne publicly khoob gandi gandi gaaliyan di toh ab unki suno jo iss desh se pyaar karte hain aur iss sarkar ko vote ki power se leke aayein hain. Kyuki bolne ka haq unko bhi hain. Ab rone wali koi baat nahi. Every action has equal and opposite reaction agar padai karke cause and effect samajh nahi aya hai toh aab aa jayega. Aur bahut acche se samjh aayega.”
It translates to: “You say a lot and so shall listen now. If you damage public property, then the public will damage you too. If you have a problem with the country and the leadership and abuse them badly then now listen the same from the ones who love the country and have voted for this government. They also have the power to say. Nothing to cry about. Now you will understand what it means that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”
On Monday, Kangana had shared that the protests are in stark difference with the values and sophistication that India stands for. She stated, “Never in my life, I have seen so much ugliness in one place. These reels from Gen Z protests are puke-inducing, the way they speak and the kind of language they are using. Never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at once.”
She added, “Ewwww, who is birthing and raising them? India is a place of diversely beautiful people, draped in elegance and rooted in cultural sophistication; you call yourselves cockroaches and look/behave like them as well; there is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness. I am scarred from these reels, need some healing, digital detox.”
Match Outlook
The Gen Z protests sparked a viral trend on Instagram with many students documenting their experience on the platform. From making fit checks before attending the protests to making memes like “Dilli Police se maar khane jaa raha hu (Going to get a beating from the Delhi Police),” the Gen Z protestors laughed and danced at the protest site as the protest itself became content. Reels also showed protesters running from police barricades set to the iconic Subway Surfers soundtrack.
The sprawling sit-in in Delhi’s historic Jantar Mantar was called off hours after the resignation was announced by the minister on X with leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) saying the government had accepted two other demands. Celebrations erupted soon after as young men and women – many of them Gen Z — waved the tricolour, climbed barricades and broke into impromptu jigs as makeshift loudspeakers belted out Bollywood favourites.
