A 30-foot cockroach-themed effigy will be burnt alongside Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad at the Shri Keshav Ramlila Committee’s Dussehra celebrations in Delhi’s Pitampura on October 20. Organizers say the fourth figure promotes cleanliness, although its unusual design and timing have drawn attention amid protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The Shri Keshav Ramlila committee’s president, Ashok Goel Devaraha, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Model Town, said the fourth effigy reflects the Swachh Bharat and Swachh Delhi campaigns. He denied that the display was intended to target the CJP.
Goel said the committee had previously burnt additional effigies representing contemporary social problems. Explaining this year’s decision in an interview with ANI on Thursday, he said:
“For thousands of years, we have been burning the effigies of Ravana, Meghnada, and Kumbhakarna, a tradition that conveys the message that, ultimately, truth always prevails. Keeping this in mind, we have also traditionally burned a fourth effigy representing the specific malaise affecting the nation; for instance, we have previously burned effigies representing Naxalism and terrorism. This year, our committee, the Keshav Ramlila Committee, has decided to burn an effigy of a cockroach, which serves as a symbol of filth. Our goal is to eliminate filth, whether it is within our homes, in our immediate surroundings, or in society at large. Therefore, at the Keshav Ramlila committee grounds in Pitampura, we will be burning an effigy shaped like a cockroach.”
The unfinished installation at the Netaji Subhash Place grounds resembles a pink, moustached man with a six-legged black cockroach climbing his chest, rather than a standalone insect, according to the Print’s Saturday report.
Effigy-maker Savej Khan suggested a political meaning, describing the figure as representing the cockroach movement’s leader. Goel, however, continued to deny any connection between the effigy and the CJP.
The CJP emerged in May after the chief justice of India, Surya Kant, compared certain unemployed young people entering media and activism to “cockroaches” during a Supreme Court hearing on May 15. The remarks triggered criticism and inspired the satirical protest movement. Surya Kant subsequently clarified that his comments had been misquoted and were directed at individuals entering professions using fake qualifications, not the country’s youth generally.
The movement is now demanding the resignation of the chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Election Commission has denied allegations of political bias.
The movement’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, was detained before Friday’s Delhi rally and subsequently arrested under preventive provisions, according to reports cited by Reuters.
Earlier, the CJP organized demonstrations over examination irregularities at Jantar Mantar in June and July, including a march towards parliament on July 20. Following weeks of protests, Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister on July 25 and was replaced by Pralhad Joshi.
The committee plans to burn all four effigies on Tuesday. While the choice of a cockroach has prompted political interpretations, no independently verified evidence establishes that the installation was commissioned to represent the CJP.
