Aviation experts and enthusiasts would agree when I say that a plane in stall is bound to crash. Irrespective of the speed at which it accelerated and the thousands of metres it climbed, is the plane is not generating enough lift, it will enter a state of stall, from which there is rarely any recovery. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has reached that stall, where no matter what went wrong, it is bound to go in a spiral nosedive downwards, with a near impossibility of recovery. Very soon.
Few weeks back, I was quoting the CJP protests as a landmark event and case study for students of Strategic communication (StratCom), to a group of students of the subject. Their movement checked every single box, that a successful campaign should have and was executed flawlessly, achieving a lot of success and unexpected support. While the majority of government machinery and leaders have still not understood the defining line between public relations (PR) and StratCom, and continue to depend on information technology (IT) cells’ promotional tweets, counters and aggression; here we have some mostly unknown individuals (with enough political backing and funding of course) plan a campaign, launch it and deliver it like sixer of the bat of the great Tendulkar. I’ll not be exaggerating when I say - No one had any idea what to do and how to manage this. No one had anticipated the scale it would achieve and most worrisome was the fact that no one could put a finger on solution as to how to stop it from spreading like a wildfire. especially when it phased into a proverbial ‘Youth Movement’.
A StratCom exercise ensures an action, delivers a goal and ends in an outcome. A PR activity is purely promotional, which may or may not yield any result. CJP followed few basic principles that more than anyone, our decision makers in high offices should take note of, especially since we did nothing in this field even after the catastrophic performance of our narrative management capabilities during Operation Sindoor. Everyone kept saying - it’s a wakeup call! But sadly, no one woke up. We still out struggling to tell the world the facts, and as always reacting to every accusation, lie and blame thrown at us. Hence, it becomes more than critical for us to gather lessons from wherever they come and build on them.
Timing – THE most critical factor in a successful comms campaign is timing. Your decorations and graphics, statements and Op-Eds, platforms and modes, social media and campaigns, are all secondary to this single factor. CJP grabbed this by its neck. They obviously had enough preparation from some time, partners and support earmarked, campaign planned and leaders identified. What they were waiting for is the exact moment where the communication can supersede everything else. And that was gifted on a platter by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), MR Surya Kant, on May 14, 2026, when he compared some youth involved in fake degrees and scams with cockroaches. However, that was enough for the CJP leadership to take that statement and deploy it universally on entire youth of the nation and turn it into a movement. The criticism against the CJI’s statement, was very effectively exploited by them by giving this snowball a solid push, and then watch it gather momentum and mass. The movement launched at any other time, could have never gained this support and interest. It was perfection!
Anchor – Any successful StratCom campaign needs to have an anchor ideology, thought, principle, motive or deliverable. Without these, its chaos and mundane PR. Personally, I consider PR as lowest form of promotion requiring the most basic cognitive effort and rudimentary goals. It is simply - This is good, that is bad - presented in a flashy and optimistic manner, which rarely gains the traction and impact you are aiming for. It is simply popularising what you believe in, without much thought on how to convince the listeners or viewers into changing their opinions. CJP understood this and homed on to Paper Leak. A cause which even the staunchest government supporter would associate with and sympathise whole heartedly. That is the essence of a successful StratCom campaign. Forcing those against you to have a sliver of empathy towards your cause and think about it. A Modi supporter will never vote for Rahul Gandhi, even if he saw a million posts or reels in a month launched from the Indian National Congress (INC) IT cell, promoting and hailing Mr Gandhi. However, a single well-planned campaign, that aims at weakness of the Prime Minister (PM) and his party, launched in a very focused, timely and subtle manner, will force the same voter to think for sure. That is exactly what you aim for. Setting the field and bowling in such a manner that the batsman is forced to play on leg side, to his disadvantage. And all this when wrapped around an anchor of ideology, becomes irresistible to a vulnerable receiver. Which in this case were young students. opposition parties and social media wannabes (we’ll come to them), who for their own reasons happily jumped on to this bandwagon.
Outcome – The best way I can explain this is building on what I said earlier about StratCom requires an action, while PR is just promotional activity. A toothpaste ad simply scares you of cavities and bad breath while promoting its product. It does not start questioning or threatening your life, ideology, family, etc. Ghengis Khan sent his teams ahead to the cities he was planning to conquer to spread his fear in such brutal and systematic detail and manner that they surrendered the moment he reached there. Goebbles told Germans that if Jews are not exterminated, their lives will continue to be miserable and poor. Hence, outcome, however positive or negative (depends on the perspective of viewer) has to be defined for the campaign to sustain and grow. CJP, very effectively asked for resignation of Dharmender Pradhan, over paper leak and other related issues and turned this into a David versus Goliath scenario. The powerless and struggling students against the might of the government, asking for a single and simple solution - Resignation of Education Minister. The resulting tussle, the ego clash and the physical demonstrations pitted them against each other, with government acting clueless and out of options. Finally, they had to relent, and the minister had to resign. The outcome was achieved successfully.
Use of Platforms – Let me take you to events of last year when the country was bombing the air bases of Pakistan relentlessly and ruthlessly. It was pure military dominance and one-sided victory. But when it came to out StratCom, we suddenly got so primitive that it was unbelievable. No updates coming, which the social media warriors could use to fight the narrative wars, no central narrative management, no banning of enemy handles and channels that kept spreading misinformation, no central narrative management, hardly any fact checking and most importantly, no optimal use of resources available. The fight of narrative was left to the self-styled spokespersons, armchair generals, media channels and almost anyone who had an opinion. We had national media, international media, social media, consulates, veterans, scholars, newspapers, YouTube channels, thousands of creative studios, artists, and almost everything that a massive nation can think of. Yet we failed and failed miserably. Pakistan picked up one line of Rafales getting shot down and turned the entire war on its tail on that single argument and convinced the world that they won. Simply because they understand that reality is what is presented and perceived. They decided let’s forget we lost the war, let’s convince everyone that we won. And they deployed every resource available to them to achieve this goal. Exactly what CJP did now. They did not leave a single platform, resource, leader, influencer, publication and location, unattended. Like in a war, they opened so many fronts, that the government struggled to address them all. At that point it became a war of attrition where CJP was corroding the security wall of government day by day, inch by inch and gaining ground. This multifaceted approach is a boon for new age communication plans, but only if you can use them effectively. The PM made splendid effort by reaching out to the youth via Instagram reels, but let’s say it was too little and too late. CJP did not care who stands on the stage. As long as you show up. Like a desperate Bollywood movie, only interested in numbers, CJP welcomed sleaze, ruffians, opportunists, out of job leaders and almost anyone who can come to their protest, and make some content on it. They were clear - let us overwhelm the system by numbers. And they were able to achieve this too.
The Myth creation – A lot of communication, that is planned at such levels needs to present a version of reality where the goals have been achieved and life is Utopian. This can come in manner of declaring an endgame, or decided goals, or simply highfaluting promises. CJP, and its leadership did this very well. The entire ecosystem that they created around them, was hypnotised into a state where it started to look like a march into a sunset, holding hands and singing happy songs. They were able to create an aura around the movement that is this succeeds, the life and times of students will change forever, the constitution will be restored to its glory, and governments will change at the snap of fingers. The gullible students, genuinely anguished over paper leaks, University Grants Commission (UGC) etc dived into the cesspool without a second thought. Everyone was very goal oriented, with no thought on the process. It became a day-to-day struggle, with CJP leaders standing in stage and leading the so-called revolution. This aspect of StratCom is most tricky and sensitive to manage. You have to continue showing the bigger picture, while throwing in bits of success, maintain the narrative and hide the losses. The storytelling peaks here, as does the charade. CJP fuelled the fires, and opposition leaders from across the nation jumped at the opportunity. They don’t care about students and exams and ideology and resignations. As long as CJP was providing a catapult, they were happy to lend a stone towards the PM. But this fortifies the whole ‘myth creation’. When the uninitiated and gullible see the big names lending a supporting arm, and exalting the whole initiative, they get bolder and confident of the promised land. The energy increases and dedication surges. The exact reason military leaders visit the soldiers in trenches. CJP was able to bring tons of big names to these trenches and prove that we are on right path.
Choosing the right aim – Last but not the least, a campaign has to be designed around a goal or deliverable that is achievable to most extent. While CJP is an off shoot of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and supported by opposition parties, their singular aim is downfall of Mr Modi and BJP, they did not go into battle with such high demands. They chose very smartly. Their slogans may ask for anything, but they kept their demands realistic and planned the core campaign around it. By asking for resignation of Education Minister, they conflated the cause and possibility in a solid manner. Because achieving this low hanging fruit, they suddenly get escalated to a pressure group that can deliver. Now the followers and supporters have renewed faith and will continue showing up. Imagine CJP insisting on resignation of Home Minister (HM) or PM! They would never get anywhere. Hence, it is imperative that while the overall campaign may be revolutionary in the most extreme and unimaginable manner, the deliverables mentioned in same campaign should be tiny milestones. Achieving them enables the campaign, strengthens the movement and gives you a chance to move to next goal, under the same umbrella. Guided by the right masters, CJP executed this well and launched, managed and renewed their communications and campaign accordingly as the time went by.
And then Dharmender Pradhan resigned!
While CJP did everything perfectly, gathered the crowds, got tremendous attention in media, became a genuine concern for the government, and ensured that the education minister resigns, it has sadly failed to capitalise on its success and slowly turned into a headless chicken running around making lot of noise but not getting anywhere.
What next – Once the education minister resigned, nobody had any idea what next? The leaders looked clueless, the crowds started chanting random stuff and even the supporters from opposition filtered out realising that this car has run out of fuel. This is again a perfect example of lack of long-term planning in operation and communications. A good plan, as long as it sustains, starts preparing for success too. These people did not. They have now become a protestor and lost the sheen of change maker. And God knows, India isn’t falling short of protestors for hire. From Yogender Yadav to Swara Bhaskars here, we have a wide variety and range. The problem is nobody takes them seriously. Yes, they make for a good debater and can occupy a chair on a stage, but beyond that, there is no real value to their presence. The Dipke and gang have reached that zone. They have been friend zoned by serious politics and issues. That sweet spot where they had landed after education minister’s resignation, was a brilliant opportunity for them to position themselves as serious contenders. But they got addicted to crowds and chants, not realising that real power sits in offices. Their communication faltered majorly. They just keep coming up with new demands for resignations and removals. Random thoughts and goals structured into lame assurances and promises. Their campaign has lost both direction and energy, and their StratCom is a joke now.
Lack of Control on messaging – When you enter the domain of StratCom, you have to own the entire space, manage it and drive it to its conclusion. CJP got so excited in its initial success, that it forgot to pay attention to what is happening under their own roof. While for a moment, whole country and even government was impressed by the number of crowds and online support they could gather, the feeling soon turned sour as the quality took over the quantity. The abuses, sleazy dances and comments, the limericks and innuendoes, the lack of decency and grace, suddenly turned the nation against these crowds. The empathy for students was soon replaced by the shock of revelations as to what is wrong with these people? No self-respecting parent, honest, hardworking student or for that matter a decent human being could associate himself with this crowd. The CJP leadership didn’t stop it, didn’t criticise it, and did not act against it. With this inaction, they owned it. And the aura was lost. Now it is a clout chasing and reel making platform, which no one in their right mind would take seriously. They had the opportunity even after the resignation to address this, shape their communication in such a manner that a clear line is defined between class and crass, but euphoric with success, they ignored it. As on date, cringe content and cheap dialogues are what are synonym with CJP protest sites. There is no one in charge of StratCom, only cacophony getting accentuated.
Failure at leveraging alliances – Almost all opposition leaders visited CJP protests to exploit the situation. However, the lack of vision from CJP leadership, or possibly under directions from APP leadership, they woefully or purposely failed to create a messaging mechanism where the existing leaders could be roped in for longer support and partnerships. Lot of leaders distanced themselves after the Instagram community showed their colours and language, which again was failure on part of CJP. But they still could have salvaged the situation and created an excellent joint StratCom plans which aligned with some leaders to prove that they are still in the game and a serious player. Rather, they got cocky and started to think of themselves as the ultimate weapon and ended up stuck on stage with likes of Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, who collectively cannot influence two votes. The lesson here is maintenance of momentum in StratCom requires continuous course corrections, improvements and reality checks. What worked once, may not work again.
Fragmentation – A lot of people talking at once, shouting their ideas and demands, and asking everyone to pay attention to them is called chaos and cacophony, not StratCom. That is where CJP is right now. Suddenly it’s a caste movement, communist movement, anti-education policy, women safety movement and everything that you can think of. There is no central messaging, there is no leadership and there is definitely no future. This was the time to huddle and plan and capitalise on first success and chart the path ahead. Rather, they got so carried away that they started inspecting schools and hanging out with celebrities. That is where the difference between a serious leader and opportunist is exemplified the best. Suddenly Neha Bora is face of CJP protest. and All India Students’ Association-Jawaharlal Nehru University (AISA-JNU) dafli gang is sprouting everywhere. The most famous people from the protest are extremely abusive girls or a man in tank top writhing seductively and talking about women safety. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC-ST) team is projecting their issues too. Everyone who can afford a mic and has s YouTube channel is running around claiming to be a journalist. If this is not the end, what is? The campaign has died, and it is only a matter of time that the supporters will also wither away once the pool of attention dries down. It may take a couple of months, but it is inevitable.
There comes a time and moment in all StratCom campaigns where you have to give a long and hard thought on where this is going. That thought is outcome agnostic. The aim is to start well and then maintain it via not only reading the room and reactions but also shaping your narratives regularly. Situations, alliances, reactions and support changes. So should your messaging. However great and popular the slogan - Mandir Yahin Banayenge - might be at some point. It lost its relevance the moment Ram Mandir was built. That is the harsh reality of communication.
CJP failed to understand these basics. In-spite of the unprecedented success they achieved in creating a campaign solely through social and other media, they did not plan ahead and got carried away with initial gains. The moment is lost, the ship has sailed and the train has left the platform. They can continue gathering the leftovers, but there is no coming back.
The CJP leader, Dipke tweeted yesterday - ekdum darpok insaan Narender Modi.
As a final thought, I’d like to share a principle that is the backbone of StratCom. This is the same mistake that the INC and Rahul Gandhi and others make. The principle of StratCom is very rock-solid when it says that by abusing a well-established and popular leader (Modi in this case), you only strengthen the resolve in his followers to defend and fight for him. There is nothing to gain, absolutely nothing. The plans that work, aim at subtly and slowly peeling that support away. And that requires a skill set and understanding that sadly, CJP lacks.