NEW DELHI (The Thursday Times) — A 30-foot effigy of a cockroach was set alight alongside Ravana at a Dussehra celebration in Delhi run by a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker, with a BJP minister casting the insect as a symbol of “jihadism” and “traitors”, in what critics see as a jibe at the Cockroach Janta Party movement leading protests against the Election Commission.
The effigy stood with those of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad at the Shri Keshav Ramlila Committee’s event on the DDA grounds in Pitampura on Tuesday, October 20, and was set on fire by Delhi minister Kapil Mishra. The committee is headed by Ashok Goel Devraha, the BJP legislator for Model Town.
Addressing the crowd, Mishra described the cockroach as a symbol of anarchy, filth, “laal salaam”, Naxalism, jihadism, appeasement, traitors and corruption, and said it should be wiped out just as Ravana is burned, The Quint reported. He later said that “political termites” were feeling the pain over the effigy, according to ANI. BJP Rajya Sabha member Arun Singh told the gathering that burning a cockroach as a symbol of filth should not be a problem.
‘Not political’
The organisers have insisted the cockroach stood for dirt and the health risks of unhygienic conditions, and that the decision was not political. They say it continues a tradition of burning a fourth effigy representing a social evil, which in past years has included Naxalism and terrorism.
But the choice came as the Cockroach Janta Party and allied groups have spent weeks protesting in Delhi, Bengaluru and other cities, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and opposing the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. The movement took its name and symbol from a remark that was turned into a badge of defiance by young Indians earlier this year.
The venue was decked with banners celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, alongside selfie points featuring Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and BJP president Nitin Nabin, The Quint reported.
AAP files complaint
Aam Aadmi Party Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj has filed a written complaint with Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and the Delhi Police Commissioner against Devraha, Mishra and other organisers, alleging that the event deliberately hurt religious sentiments, altered Hindu traditions and promoted enmity between communities. He has said AAP will go to court if no case is registered. Devraha said the organisers would carry on regardless of how many complaints were filed.
The same day, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat used his Vijayadashami address to warn of a “western storm” dismantling cultures and of divisive agitations, citing unrest in France, Albania, Bangladesh and Nepal that he attributed to outside forces.∎
