SAMIR NAZARETH
India recently witnessed a battle of biblical propor tions. A David versus Goli ath confrontation, the future of the country represented by India’s youth versus the gov ernment headed by the long est serving Prime Minister (PM) – Narendra Modi – the Goliath. No guesses for who won. This battle had its begin nings in an oral statement by Chief Justice Surya Kant during a hearing in India’s Supreme Court. He said “There are already parasites of society who attack the sys tem… There are youngsters like cockroaches, they don’t get any employment, they don’t have any place in pro fession”. The next day, he said his statement was taken out of context by the media and others. However, the youth con verged around the statement because it was dismissive of their situation. Already, their future was being jeopardised by a spate of national exam pa per leaks. As per the ILO, youth (15-24 yrs) unemployment rate in 2025 was 17.7%. How ever, the Indian government claims the unemployment rate is 9.9%. A recent article claimed 83% of the Indian un employed are youth and 65.7% of educated youth are unem ployed. I have witnessed mul ti-day queues filled with youth waiting to submit applications for the post of sweepers in the Nagpur lower courts. In 2018, there were reports that PM Narendra Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah suggested youth start kiosks selling pakodas instead of re maining unemployed. Given these problems and the solutions being provid ed, the callous remarks of the Chief Justice was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The cockroach – a species that can survive anywhere – became the symbol of India’s youth and their thwarted hopes. They owned the in sect-pest and made it an icon of resilience.
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This ability to own with pride something derogatory is not new in India. In 2014, when Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the face to lead the party during the na tional election, Congress-I stal wart Mani Shankar Aiyar said Modi could distribute tea but never become Prime Minister. The BJP owned this statement and claimed that Modi was be ing labelled a ‘chaiwallah’ ie a socio-economically backward person. The party claimed it proved the Congress was out of-touch with the people. The BJP also started a ‘chai pe char cha’ (dialogue over tea) cam paign across the country which drew in new supporters. This ability to unapologet ically own barbs and convert them into roses or weapons to demolish opponents is unique to the BJP and probably to the rightwing in general. During Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, she said half of Trump sup porters belong in a ‘Basket of Deplorables’ in a speech to LGBT donors. Undoubtedly, many Trump supporters are narrow minded, if not rac ists. However, Hillary alien ated Republicans who were unhappy with Trump. The Trump campaign convert ed Hillary’s statement into a badge of honour. They reim agined their racism and igno rance into preserving Ameri can ideals. On the other hand, liberals, democrats and the left don’t seem to have a response to rightwing barbs and labels. In fact, they are bumbazed by these taunts. Instead of lin guistic reclamation and using it proactively they spend time defending themselves. Take for example the whole idea of empathy, equity, jus tice, respect, rights which are actionable in society through concepts of DEI, affirmative action and so on. The right derogatively labelled these as ‘woke’ and a sign of societal weakness and a socio-eco nomic drain. In India, those opposing the rightwing Hindutva agenda of the BJP and other groups find themselves being called ‘libtards’, ‘anti-nationals’ ‘ur ban-naxals’. In fact, these jibes also have a communal nature and have even reached the In dian Parliament. BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Ramesh Bidhuri called a Muslim MP pimp and terrorist during a parliamentary debate. Senior BJP members – Ravi Shankar Prasad and Harsh Vardhan were captured on camera laughing while these state ments were being made. Such remarks have become com monplace and are being added to by the right. The liberals and the left don’t seem to have a response to these jibes. Indeed, these labels demonise, reduce, if not extinguish liberal cogent argu ments against the right.
Then there is Rahul Gandhi, a Congress-I MP and Leader of the Opposition. The BJP mockingly labelled him Pap pu (someone immature) early in his political career. Rahul ignored the jibes and carried on working. He stated in Par liament that he has no hatred towards the BJP and RSS for this jibe. Indian media have their own vicissitudes. Before 2014, the media was quite liberal. The right, including those in the government, began labelling them ‘presstitutes’. Ultimately, a majority of the media tilted towards the right. Those that tried to provide unbiased cov erage were hounded by vari ous government enforcement agencies. Today, most Indian media have become government platforms. Per Reporters Without Borders, India ranks 157th out of 180 countries. Now, the Indian right no longer uses ‘Presstitutes’ for the media. With the media becom ing a bullhorn for the govern ment, they are being labelled ‘Godi media’ (lapdog media) by a few. During the recent Cock roach protests, the volume against the media reached a cre scendo. Journalists at the pro test site were heckled with the taunt ‘Godi media’. Clips of these taunts to the faces of journalists are currently doing the rounds on social media. One could argue that there is a difference between barbs to an individual and to a group following a philosophy. But when the person repre sents the group, it becomes personal.
Michelle Obama famously said ‘when they go low, we go high’. The fact is when ‘they go low’ they control if not change the narrative. A moral high ground response serves the self but does not challenge the narrative. Indian media lost credibility because they be came what the right labelled them. Rahul Gandhi ignored the jibes and focussed on growing politically. He is no longer called Pappu. On the other hand, by owning and re framing slurs – cockroaches, deplorables, chaiwallah – ta bles were turned much to the chagrin of the taunter. Indi an media became the change they saw, others did more than the pithy ‘stick and stones will break my bones—-‘ and caused the change. (Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on socio-economic and environmental issues)
