The kids will be alright

TANISHA BANERJEE AKSHITA MAHESHWARI ISHA GANESAN AND GARVIT BHARDWAJIf you were walking towards Shivaji Park this past week the chants would have reached you long before the crowd did As soon as you step into the protest mdash whether you are at the back the front or somewhere in the middle mdash it fills your lungs and your head with an inescapable energy Thousands of strangers begin to sound like one voice ldquoDharmendra Pradhan istifa do Istifa do istifa dordquo echoes through the streets in perfect rhythm bouncing off buildings and barricades alike By the end of the day your legs ache from standing your throat burns from shouting and your clothes are damp from the rain Yet there is an unmistakable sense of pride in knowing your voice became part of something larger than yourselfThen someone beside you lifts a placard that reads ldquoCertified Cockroachrdquo Another breaks into a parody song ldquoAree Modi teri tanashahi nahi chalegi nahi chalegirdquo A group of students start filming a satirical Reel drawing cheers from the crowd Between the chants demanding accountability are bursts of laughter This is not the protest language India is used toOver the last few weeks the youthled movement spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party CJP has transformed satire into one of its most powerful political tools What began as an online joke fuelled by memes mocking the repeated examination paper leaks and the governmentrsquos response has evolved into one of the countryrsquos largest youth movements with humour travelling alongside slogansAs the movement gathered momentum so did the state response At Delhirsquos Jantar Mantar police repeatedly cracked down on demonstrators with barricades tear gas and excessive baton charges on minors after marches attempted to move towards the Parliament Metro stations were shut several protestors were detained and security was tightened around the designated protest site even as thousands continued to camp there Authorities also forcibly shifted activist and educator Sonam Wangchuk who was on a hunger strike to a hospital mdash a move protestors described as another attempt to weaken the movementldquoIt would have been a waste of my education if I hadnrsquot gonerdquo 21yearold law student and content creator Maulik Chopra says He was part of the Jantar Mantar protests in Delhi now infamous for its police brutality ldquoI donrsquot know if there will be another moment in my youth where such a large student protest happens I wanted to see how a protest functions how the police respond and most importantly stand up for education rights and for the youth of the countryrdquoUnlike many protestors who embraced the CJPrsquos identity Chopra consciously distances himself from the label While he credits the group for kickstarting the movement he believes it has grown beyond any one organisation ldquoThis is no longer just their movement Itrsquos a youth movement a studentsrsquo movement and it should remain that wayrdquoChopra sees satire as making accountability approachable ldquoWe are the ones who started brain rot Humour is what connects our generationrdquo he says ldquoWhen you make fun of those in power you are taunting the system Ridicule holds the ruling government accountable for what their deeds have been without directly attacking themrdquo Through his Reels he hopes to normalise political participation among young people particularly those from privileged backgrounds like his own ldquoIf someone like me can show that protesting is normal and standing up for your principles is cool maybe others will feel encouraged to do the samerdquoThe ripple effects were felt far beyond Delhi including Pune Chhattisgarh Telangana Karnataka Bihar and many more states In Mumbai solidarity protests drew students and young professionals to the streets Police detained hundreds of protestors outside Azad Maidan and Shivaji Park even as demonstrations remained largely peacefulTaking part in the Mumbai protests 33yearold lifestyle blogger and writer Karishma Rawat uses satire to not trivialise a serious issue but to increase peoplersquos engagement with one She creates humorous content mdash a Reel where with police in the background she lip syncs the lyrics ldquoEverybody knows that Irsquom a good girl officerrdquo from Lana Del Rayrsquos unreleased track Playing Dangerous Itrsquos a meme template that gained popularity years ago where young people sing songs with policemen She believes every generation develops its own language of resistanceldquoPeople process major events differentlyrdquo she says ldquoSome write essays some attend protests and others use humour Satire lowers the barrier to engage with complex issues and it travels much faster onlinerdquoRawat sees memes and funny Reels as an entry point rather than a replacement for journalism or activism ldquoI definitely donrsquot try to make light of the issue itself Humour is just a way to get people to think about whatrsquos happeningrdquo she explainsldquoSatire is one form of participationrdquo she says ldquoThe intention is not to divide people but to start conversations Within a few seconds a meme can communicate an idea to thousands of people People may disagree with it but at least theyrsquore talking about the issuerdquoYet if police action was meant to dampen spirits the Internet had already ensured the movement spoke a different language The CJP itself was born online Long before thousands occupied Jantar Mantar its founders had built a following through satirical memes cartoon critiques and biting political humour Instead of abandoning social media young protestors weaponised it Reels from protest sites rack up millions of views Cartoons are shared faster than speeches Placards are designed to become screenshotsPerhaps nothing captures this better than the movementrsquos embrace of the word ldquocockroachrdquo Wearing insults has long been a strategy of resistance but this generation has adapted it to the Internet age Nepalrsquos recent youthled protests similarly relied on memes parody songs and Internet humour to mobilise young people suggesting that satire is increasingly becoming a common vocabulary for digitalnative protest movements across South AsiaA generation that had been labelled ldquolazyrdquo and accused of ldquoInstagram activismrdquo mdash Gen Z has proved naysayers wrong by showing up on the streets in scores demanding accountability from their government and standing up for each otherrsquos rightsldquoHistory is being made in the country like never before by how the youth has turned humour into powerrdquo Rawat says Standing amid the chants it becomes clear that the slogans have not disappeared Todayrsquos protestors still raise their voices but they also raise punchlines In 2026 humour is no longer separate from protest It is the new naarebaazi