In the current Indian political context, Instagram memes are the CJP equivalent of drones or guerillas
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Recent political events have led to a lot of analysis. So here’s one more. Hopefully it will deflate all high expectations.These events involve the BJP, which is a huge political machine and in power; the prime minister who has a gigantic political image; and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) which is a political party only in name but which made the government bend.These CJP related events once again illustrate an old military doctrine: if your adversary is huge, attack it in large swarms of small units. That’s also the story of Gulliver and the Lilliputians which we have all read as children.It’s about how a traveller is captured by tiny people and eventually manages to win them over after promising not to hurt them. But these small people are vain and obsessed with small matters, which eventually gives Gulliver the upper hand.But there’s another way of looking at the BJP’s and Modi’s current difficulties. This is to look at guerilla warfare, which has been practised by weaker but determined opponents for centuries. There are many examples of this but the three closest to us in time ought to suffice.The first was in 1943 during the Second World War when a small guerilla force called Wingate’s Chindits harassed the Japanese in Burma. They were trained to attack the Japanese army deep inside Burma and did some momentary damage.The British, however, used the Chindits as a major propaganda tool. Just like for the Opposition now, the Chindits served as a major morale booster because the momentum of the war was still with the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan.But on the whole Chindits made no difference, something that the CJP should bear in mind. Rather, thanks to them, the Japanese changed their strategy and decided to attack Imphal and Kohima. They hadn’t thought this was possible till then.Two more examplesThe second example is of Communist guerilla warfare in China against the Kuomintang, after the Long March, which is the ridiculous name given to the precipitous Communist retreat. The Communists, like our Opposition now, were near decimation and adopted hit and run tactics.Like the CJP which has won a degree of middle class support, the Communists gradually won peasant support. They kept chipping away at the Nationalist army until they finally won — but only 15 years later in 1949. The Opposition should take note. Fifteen years.And the third, most recently, has been the Ukrainian drone war on the mighty Russian armoured columns. Basically, the Ukrainians used small weapons to destroy large tanks which were going along like ants in a column. That halted the Russian advance to Kiev. It is still stuck.In the current Indian political context, Instagram memes are the CJP equivalent of drones or guerillas and the meme creators are like the Chindits. So now the big question is: how will they affect the outcome in the UP election next year, now about nine months away.Beyond analogiesBut let us not take these analogies too far. The situations and contexts are very different. For one thing, the Opposition isn’t fighting against just one entity. It has three to contend with: Modi, the BJP and the RSS.At present it is focusing on Modi and leaving the BJP and the RSS mostly alone. Only time will tell if this is the correct strategy or not. I think the Opposition is wrong because the constituent parties regard the BJP as their mirror image: all head and no body.Family parties are like that only. They think all parties are like them, which is probably one reason why the BJP has been so successful. It has a leader. It has the organisation. And it has the ideology.The real question, however, is how many seats will the BJP lose if Modi is severely wounded politically by the campaign directed solely against him. The answer depends on the organisational strength of the BJP which, because of the RSS, is enormous; and the absence of a viable leader of the Opposition who can take Modi’s place. But even that is 30 months away.Meanwhile, seven States have elections coming up in 2027: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat. Five of these seven are ruled by the BJP.This is where the real impact will be felt. Until then, enjoy the memes. Some of them are truly funny. But all of them also truly hurt the BJP by making it look foolish and corrupt. There’s no weapon more powerful and dangerous than ridicule.Published on August 9, 2026
