India’s ‘million mutinies’ are puncturing Modi’s aura of invincibility

This October, India is a country where a million mutinies are gathering force. India’s “cockroaches” — supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) — are back on the streets, marking Mahatma Gandhi’s 157th birth anniversary with non-violent disobedience. Once again, the atmosphere was carnival-like: plenty of students; a phalanx of marching, fist-waving women, arm-in-arm with young men, punching the air and shouting: “Gyanu, it’s done, bro”. Surreally enough, they already talk of “Gyanu” — India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar — in the past tense. What will follow — what system or person — is a question that has been put on hold. That’s for later.