What the cockroach doesn’t know

A Cockroach Janta Party CJP gets 20 million followers Twitter explodes Instagram reels flood your feed WhatsApp groups turn into political battlegrounds And suddenly everyone is hoping for an overnight political revolutionBut herersquos a simple question if followers alone could change the system why does the system keep survivingThe extraordinary response to the CJP reveals something deeper than a social media trend Millions do not rally behind an untested movement without a reason The enthusiasm surrounding it suggests that many citizens especially young people are dissatisfied with the existing political choices and are looking for an alternativeIt also exposes a larger failure of the opposition If so much public anger exists why has it been unable to channel it The rise of relatively unknown faces is often a sign of a political vacuum that emerges when established parties fail to recognise and represent public sentimentEvery generation believes it is witnessing the movement that will finally change something if not everything Every few years a new wave emerges captures public imagination and creates the feeling that the existing political order is about to collapseAround fifteen years ago the anticorruption movement swept across the country Mumbairsquos local trains were full of people wearing ldquoMain Anna Hoonrdquo caps College students who rarely discussed politics suddenly found themselves debating corruption governance and accountability Public anger had found a voiceFor a moment it felt as if Indian politics was about to be transformed forever The anger frustration and hope were genuineIn 2006 Maharashtra witnessed a similar political wave when Raj Thackeray launched the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS Massive rallies powerful speeches and strong appeals to Marathi identity generated enormous enthusiasm among young people In colleges canteens and tea stalls political discussions revolved around a single question was Maharashtra witnessing the rise of a new political forceMore recently India witnessed the antiCAA protests the farmersrsquo movement and other social media campaigns that created the impression that change was inevitable Each movement reflected genuine public concerns and captured national attention Yet history repeatedly teaches us a difficult lessonEmotion can create momentum It cannot create permanencePublic anger can mobilise millions and social media can amplify that anger Yet politics has a rule that social media often struggles to accept trends do not defeat systems Organisations doThis is why some movements survive while others disappearThe Shiv Sena under Balasaheb Thackeray did not become influential merely because of emotion or speeches Its strength came from an extensive organisational structure built through shakhas and local workers who remained connected with people on the groundThe Congress dominated Indian politics for decades because it possessed a nationwide organisation stretching from villages to ParliamentThe communist parties too became a formidable force because they built disciplined cadre networks trade unions and student organisations that extended far beyond electionsSimilarly the BJPrsquos rise cannot be understood without recognising the decadeslong organisational work of the RSS Elections may be fought by leaders but political dominance is usually sustained by organisationA viral reel is not a cadre A hashtag is not a political strategy A follower is not necessarily a worker And outrage is not leadershipSocial media has undoubtedly changed politics It can mobilise people amplify voices and create pressure within hours But it can only create visibilityOrganisation creates powerBuilding a political movement requires leadership discipline patience and people willing to work long after the cameras leave and the hashtags stop trending It requires institutions local leadership and a longterm visionHistory shows that movements endure only when public anger is converted into organisation and public support into sustained action That transformation is slow often frustrating and rarely glamorous But it is the difference between a moment and a movementMahatma Gandhi observed that ldquoan ounce of practice is worth more than tonnes of preachingrdquo Political history continues to prove him right Real change requires organisation sacrifice and sustained effortPerhaps that is the real test of any movement Not how many followers it gains in a week Not how many hashtags it trends under Not how many reels are made in its support But whether it can build the leadership discipline and organisation needed to outlive the excitementBecause history is not written by those who trend for a week It is written by those who remain standing long after the trend disappearsFollowers create trends Organisations create historySanjeev Shivadekar is political editor midday He tweets SanjeevShivadekSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper