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Should the CJP be a political party?

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:02:00 +0000

Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das and national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka during a media interaction in New Delhi on August 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: ANI

A glimpse at India’s recent history suggests that while some protest movements became successful political parties, others did not. The success of the recent youth movement started by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) should not be judged by whether it would become a successful political party nor by its forcing the former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign. Rather, the success of the CJP movement should be judged by the enthusiastic participation of young students for a cause which concerned them; the success of which has raised confidence in them.

They now believe that they can make the government hear their voices even if it is raised from a non-political platform.

Movements to parties

Very often the success of a movement is judged by not only what the movement was able to achieve but whether it was able to become a successful political party or not. The 1979 student’s agitation in Assam led by the All Assam Students Union transformed into a successful political party, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which formed the government in 1985 in Assam. The India against corruption movement also transformed into a political party — the Aam Adami Party (AAP) which came to power in Delhi for the first time in 2013. Not only did the India against corruption movement draw large support, the AAP also enjoyed massive electoral gains; it won 67 and 62 seats out of a total of 70 Assembly seats in Delhi with a 54.3% and 53.5% vote share during the 2015 and 2020 Assembly elections respectively.

The AAP also formed a government in Punjab in 2022.

In the success story of both the AGP and AAP, the youth played an important role. During the 2015 Assembly elections, the AAP’s vote share among young voters (18-22 years of age) was 63%, almost 10% higher compared to its average vote share. The AAP went on to draw 60% of the votes among young voters (18-22 years) during the 2020 Assembly elections as well — 7% higher compared to its average vote share.

If the CJP does turn into a political party, there is hardly any doubt that the new party will attract young voters, as has been the case with other newly formed parties. The newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by actor-turned politician C. Joseph Vijay, formed the government in Tamil Nadu in the very first election it contested in 2026, replacing the two established formations mainly the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The youth played a very important role in the victory of the TVK. While the overall vote share of the TVK was 34.9%, its share among young voters (18-22) was significant at nearly 70%.

Nationally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has an advantage among young voters, its vote share being 4% higher amongst voters in the age group of 18-22 years. Therefore, the rise of the CJP may affect the BJP more than any other party.

But the question remains, can the CJP attract young voters across the country?

Strong challengers

There have also been successful social movements which have failed as political parties. The movement for a separate State of Uttarakhand resulted in the formation of a new State and a new political party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD). However, it failed to make an electoral impact. During the 2002 election, which was the first election held after the formation of Uttarakhand, the UKD polled only 5.4% votes and won just four Assembly seats. There have been similar groups which have led protest movements, demanding Statehood and the like, but most of them could not become successful political parties.

However, there have been movements led by the youth, with the participation of larger social communities, which resulted in a change of the national government. The Jayaprakash Narayan led anti-emergency movement of 1977 dethroned the powerful Indira Gandhi-led government. Similarly, the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare contributed to the defeat of the Congress-led coalition government in 2014.

It should be of no concern whether the CJP becomes a political party or not as the movement has already been able to achieve some noticeable milestones. It emphasised that issues take importance and not leaders as this movement was largely leaderless without the active support of any political party.

It also gave a large number of people the hope that their voices can be heard if they come together in a sustained manner.

Sanjay Kumar is Professor and election analyst. Views expressed are personal.

Published – August 31, 2026 01:32 am IST

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Key US Voters Who Will Decide Presidential Polls

admin — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 03:03:26 +0000

Warren, United States:

Young blue-collar workers like Luke Gonzalez are being courted in a tight US presidential election that is forcing voters to weigh competing claims on immigration, inflation and other hot-button issues.

Earlier this month, Gonzalez, a 25 year-old glazier, sat through an 80-minute presentation at his Warren, Michigan union hall where labor leaders pressed the case that Kamala Harris was better for workers than Donald Trump.

Gonzalez, who is undecided, is a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), one of several leading unions backing Harris due in part to industrial policy under the Biden-Harris administration expected to sustain building-trades employment for years.

Democrats also back collective-bargaining rights, in contrast to Trump who joked recently with billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk about firing striking workers.

But Trump’s unconventional style has enjoyed lasting appeal with a sizeable number of blue-collar workers, who can be more conservative culturally — that has helped keep the race tight in Michigan and other swing states with large working-class populations.

Trump supporters include Isaiah Goddard, 24, who is part of a group of insurgent United Auto Workers members who back Trump.

Trump “is not a politician,” he said. “He knows how to run the country and he can do it again.”

Goddard, who works at Ford, doesn’t believe Harris’ support for electric vehicles will be good for Michigan.

He also endorses Trump’s stance on abortion and immigration, saying “these illegal immigrants are going to be taking American jobs.”

Nick Nabozny, another Ford worker, sold 32 red “Auto Workers for Trump” t-shirts at his Wayne, Michigan plants this week.

“There’s more people in the union that support Trump than they truly believe,” Nabozny said of the UAW.

Turned off by politicians

Trump in 2016 became the first Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan to cut significantly into the Democratic lead among union households.

Besides immigration, Trump in 2016 blasted international trade deals that led to industrial job loss in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Biden won back enough of these voters in 2020 to flip those states, although this year’s race is neck-and-neck.

Democratic pollster David Mermin expects a big gender gap, with working-class women supporting Harris based in part over abortion rights.

Young voters are the most “persuadable” part of the working-class population, said Mermin, who works at Lake Research Partners. “They don’t like the parties. They don’t like politicians.”

They “are the ones you can influence, they’re learning still,” said Jeff Tricoff, 39, a refinery worker at the Teamsters union in Detroit who is undecided.

Lucas Hartwell, 22, a labor organizer with the Operating Engineers union who backs Harris tells peers to “vote your interests, even if the social issues don’t match up for you.”

Debating immigration

While the national Teamsters union made no endorsement, other prominent unions such as IUPAT and the UAW are campaigning hard for the Democrat, distributing lawn signs, phone banking and canvassing door to door.

IUPAT president Jimmy Williams attributes the Democratic Party’s slippage to decades of failures to deliver.

But Williams, a fourth-generation member of his union who became a glazier after high school, considers Biden to be a turning point because the outgoing president became the first to join a strikers’ picket line, and because of big legislative successes.

At the Warren event, Williams described to apprentices that Trump talked about infrastructure, but didn’t get anything done, adding that Harris will continue Biden’s ambitious initiatives.

But when Williams polled the audience of around 30, about a third raised their hands for Trump. Inflation, cost of living,” explained one bearded young worker.

Williams acknowledged that costs are “going through the roof,” as he blamed big business and described inflation as a global phenomenon due to supply chain problems.

Williams got more pushback on immigration, but he argued workers should aim their outrage at the businesses that exploit cheap labor.

“As a union, we just can’t stand for that,” Williams told the group. “The biggest tool that the bosses use to divide workers is race.”

After the event, Robert Gonzalez, head of IUPAT’s Michigan district, estimated the room as “50-50 split.”

His son, Luke, was drawn to the idea that “Kamala is for the working union” in contrast to “big business” candidate Trump, before adding, “I still have a lot of reading up to do.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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