Joyful Defiance in Delhi's Cockroach Janta Protests Signals the Collapse of Fear and Modi's Invincibility
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/meena-kandasamy. "This carnival of protest on the streets of Delhi has shaken Narendra Modi like nothing before | Meena Kandasamy | The Guardian." October 19, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The author argues that the recent street protests in Delhi, full of music, dancing and humour despite brutal policing, show Indians no longer fear Modi's government. The state's panicked, heavy-handed reaction suggests it knows it is losing ground, even among Hindus who once backed it. Whether or not the government falls, the movement has already damaged Modi's aura of invincibility.
Conclusion
The Cockroach-led protest movement, with its carnivalesque defiance of police repression, has shattered the climate of fear that sustained Modi's BJP regime and punctured its image of invincibility. Whether or not it topples the government, it has shown it can unite people, including Hindus, against the divisive force of the BJP.
Premises
- Protesters are responding to heavy repression (detentions, beatings, an internet blackout, journalist arrests, 90,000 security personnel, metro closures) with songs, dancing, satire and joy rather than fear.
- The state's responses are disproportionate and desperate: fortifying a park against a flag-waving celebration, summoning Meta officials, and imposing internet shutdowns indicate a regime afraid of its own citizens.
- The regime's usual tool, branding dissenters anti-national, fails against protesters waving the national flag, which exposes a government unsure of its own legitimacy.
- The second round of protests cannot be defused by sacrificing a minister as the first round was, because removing the chief election commissioner would amount to admitting the electoral system is compromised.
- The BJP is losing control of the information space and the visual narrative: social media algorithms may have turned against it, and images of young women and opposition leaders defying police are compelling.
- The Hindu base has been betrayed by a regime that exploited its faith without providing jobs and now sees its own children subjected to state violence, so opposition appeals to Hindu symbolism (Rahul Gandhi's Shiva references) can detach Hindus from Hindutva.
Assumptions
- Public joy and carnivalesque behaviour at protests reflect a real, widespread loss of fear rather than a minority of activists' behaviour.
- Heavy security deployments and shutdowns signal regime weakness and fear rather than confident, effective control.
- The protest momentum will persist and broaden beyond the activist and student core, including to Modi's Hindu base.
- Social media imagery and online visibility translate into real political change.
- The BJP's electoral support rests mainly on fear and on a religious-nationalist appeal that economic disappointment can erode.
- The author's account of the chief election commissioner and the voter-roll purge is accurate and will not be defused by other concessions.