Everyone knows about the burning of Ravana on Dussehra. But this time, along with Ravana, a cockroach will also be burnt. At a time when the Cockroach Janata Party’s intense protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is continuing, presenting the cockroach as garbage, a Ramlila committee in Delhi is all set to burn a cockroach effigy along with Ravana on Dussehra. The Shri Keshav Ramlila Committee of Pitampura in the national capital has decided to burn a 30-foot tall giant cockroach effigy parallel to the idols of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad.
The committee has claimed that this step is part of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Swachh Delhi’ campaign. Since the cockroach is a symbol of filth and garbage, it will be included in Ravana’s demon army and burnt. Ramlila Committee President and BJP MLA Ashok Goel said, “There is no political motive behind this decision. This symbolic burning has been arranged to give the message of the victory of good over evil and cleanliness.”
But even though the BJP MLA claims it to be non-political, such a step amid the ongoing protest by the Cockroach Janata Party has now acquired intense political significance. It is to be noted that earlier, over the NEET question paper leak case, the Cockroach Janata Party had staged a month-long protest at Jantar Mantar and marched to Parliament, forcing former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign.
Currently, against the irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list, the Cockroach Janata Party, joining hands with opposition parties and student organizations, is carrying out a continuous agitation on the streets of Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Due to this protest, several top leaders, students and journalists of the party have had to face imprisonment. At a time of such a heated situation, the move by a leader of the ruling party to indirectly target the agitating party by using the stage of a religious function has created outrage in opposition circles.
