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By:

Abhijit Joshi

31 August 2024 at 10:09:24 am

When the Cockroach Enters Politics

Regardless of whether or not the CJP wins an election, its rise signals a changing relationship between young Indians and political power. It would be tempting to dismiss the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as another internet curiosity destined to enjoy a brief moment of virality before disappearing into the digital ether. Politics, however, has a habit of taking jokes more seriously than their creators intended. Whether the CJP eventually becomes a political force, lends its energies to another...

When the Cockroach Enters Politics

Regardless of whether or not the CJP wins an election, its rise signals a changing relationship between young Indians and political power. It would be tempting to dismiss the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as another internet curiosity destined to enjoy a brief moment of virality before disappearing into the digital ether. Politics, however, has a habit of taking jokes more seriously than their creators intended. Whether the CJP eventually becomes a political force, lends its energies to another party, survives as a pressure group or simply fades away is impossible to know. But its emergence has already exposed something worth watching: a section of young Indians is becoming increasingly comfortable turning political frustration into organised digital dissent. Edgy Satire The CJP began in the language of satire, irreverence and internet culture. Its appeal lies partly in refusing the solemnity with which conventional Indian politics often presents itself. Parties arrive with flags, slogans, manifestos and carefully choreographed leaders. The CJP arrived with a joke. Yet behind the joke is a familiar political instinct: the desire to puncture institutions that appear too comfortable, too self-important or too remote from the citizen. India has seen this impulse before, though usually in different forms. Political movements have repeatedly emerged from dissatisfaction with established parties, bureaucratic opacity or the sense that the political class speaks at citizens rather than with them. What is different now is the medium. A generation raised on social media does not necessarily distinguish between political communication, entertainment and satire. A meme can make an argument; a viral video can become a campaign; a joke can acquire a constituency. This is precisely why established parties should resist the urge to laugh too quickly. India’s political parties are still largely organised around structures inherited from another age: hierarchical leadership, local cadres, rallies, posters and television appearances. Young voters, meanwhile, inhabit a political ecosystem in which authority is fragmented and attention is scarce. They are accustomed to questioning institutions in public, challenging narratives instantly and moving between causes with remarkable speed. They may not want another party in the traditional mould. They may want politics itself to behave differently. Interesting Experiment The CJP therefore represents an interesting experiment, regardless of whether it survives electorally. Its first challenge is credibility. Satire is a powerful weapon against hypocrisy, but governing requires rather more than exposing it. It is relatively easy to ridicule politicians, bureaucracy or public policy. It is harder to propose workable alternatives, build an organisation, select candidates, raise money transparently and maintain internal discipline. Every anti-establishment movement eventually encounters the awkward transition from saying what is wrong to explaining what should replace it. That is where many insurgent political projects falter. The second challenge is endurance. Digital movements can acquire astonishing momentum and lose it almost as quickly. The internet rewards novelty, provocation and emotional intensity. Politics demands patience. A movement that depends too heavily on its ability to generate attention can find itself trapped by the very ecosystem that created it. Yesterday’s viral cause is easily displaced by today’s scandal, controversy or meme. Yet dismissing such movements because they are ephemeral would also be a mistake. Political influence does not necessarily require winning elections. A pressure group can alter the vocabulary of public debate; an online movement can force established parties to address issues they would rather avoid; a small organisation can become disproportionately influential if larger parties begin borrowing its language. This is perhaps the most interesting possibility for the CJP. Its ultimate significance may not lie in the number of seats it wins, but in the questions it persuades others to answer. That is also why its rise should be viewed in the wider context of India’s changing political electorate. Young Indians are not uniformly anti-establishment, nor are they naturally aligned with any particular ideology. But many are less deferential towards political authority than previous generations. They have access to more information, more competing narratives and more opportunities to organise themselves outside traditional institutions. They can be cynical, impatient and contradictory. They can also be intensely political. Traditional parties often misunderstand this generation by treating it as an audience to be targeted rather than a constituency to be engaged. A slick social-media campaign is not the same thing as listening. Young voters may enjoy memes, but that does not mean their political concerns are frivolous. Employment, education, housing, urban infrastructure, corruption and the quality of public institutions remain stubbornly material concerns. The CJP’s real test, then, is whether it can convert irreverence into relevance. If it can, India’s political parties may have to contend with something they are not accustomed to: political competition that does not begin in a party office, a caste network or a traditional ideological organisation, but on a phone screen. If it cannot, the CJP will join the long list of internet phenomena that briefly captured attention before vanishing. Either outcome would tell us something. For now, the cockroach has achieved the one thing every political movement seeks before it can hope to achieve anything else: people are talking about it. Whether it becomes a party, a pressure group, a political ally or merely a footnote remains uncertain. But the question has changed. The political establishment no longer needs to ask, “Who are these young people?” It needs to ask a more uncomfortable question: "What are they going to ask next?" (The writer is a political observer. Views personal.)

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Being the first person from the private sector to be appointed as chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as part of the government’s lateral initiative, Madhabi Puri Buch also holds the honour of being the first woman to hold the top post as capital market regulator.

But the laurels that the former private sector banker enjoyed in her earlier stint with ICICI Bank, was marred with allegations that she and her husband were having a stake in offshore entities, which were used to artificially inflate shares of Adani group companies.

Terming the allegation as `character assassination, Buch clarified that all disclosures have already been furnished and the fund in question did not invest in any securities involving the Adani group.

When it rains, it pours. This allegation was subsequently followed by Congress Party allegation that Buch had received salary and post-retirement benefits from ICICI Bank after she quit the private sector bank.

In its clarification to the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank asserted that the payments made to Buch were purely retirement benefits after her exit from the bank and they were neither salary nor employee stock options.

Prior to these allegations, Buch tenure at SEBI was all about bringing in quick reforms on operational issues by changing the format of consultation paper to bring in larger responses digitally. Being data savvy, the rationale of her decisions were democratic based on big data analysis derived from the responses received to the consultation papers.

Further she bifurcated the duties of the SEBI staff between operations and enforcement, which were done by the same persons earlier. Having worked for the private sector in the capital market domain space, Buch had a better understanding of the subject compared to officers from the administrative service in the past that reflected even in her orders as a whole-time director at SEBI before becoming the chairperson. As a whole time director at SEBI, her orders on adjudication issues were more directional to the capital market space, according to experts in the compliance space. She was also quick to revamp the old provisions of the 90s at SEBI.

Being tech and data savvy, Buch enhanced regulatory surveillance and detection of market manipulation, insider trading and fraud while also emphasizing on strengthening corporate governance by introducing stricter rules for independent directors and enhancing disclosures for related-party transactions.

To put in perspective, the annual report of the capital market regulator in the just concluded financial year revealed that the number of investigations related to insider trading jumped to 175 in 2023-24 from 85 in the preceding year while probes related to front running jumped over three times to 83 from 24 in the preceding year.

Transparency in mutual funds by implementing measures to protect retail investors along with tightening norms for initial public offers, particularly in the SME platforms were some of her other positive initiatives including confirmation of denial of any market rumours within 24 hours for the top 100 listed companies which will be extended to top 250 companies from December 1. However increased transparency and compliance with tightening regulations led to increased operational costs for the market participants and hence faced resistance from certain quarters. Born in 1966, Buch completed her primary education in Mumbai and graduated with specialization in Mathematics from Delhi and later obtained a management degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In between, she got engaged to Dhawal Buch, a director at a consumer goods multinational at the age of eighteen and got married at the age of 21.

Besides ICICI Bank, Buch also worked as a lecturer at a college in England, worked at Greater Pacific Capital in Singapore and ICICI Securities as its CEO. She also worked as executive director on several private sector companies and as a consultant for New Development Bank (Brics Bank).

What now remains to be seen, is whether Buch, who survived the 26/11 terror attack when she along with her husband, was attending a meeting at Taj, be able to overcome the current ordeal. Keeping fingers crossed for the times to come.

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