New Delhi: Two young men dressed as Spider-Man and a gorilla are surrounded by over a dozen young women and men at a Cockroach Janta Party protest in Jantar Mantar. The crowd clicked selfies, shook hands and cheered, “Finally, Spider-Man has joined the protest.”
The Cockroach Janta Party-led protest, which is widely considered to mostly consist of Gen-Z students, has turned creativity into a form of resistance. And this new form of resistance has its own old, familiar reasons. From Marvel character Thor to DC character Batman to Disney’s Mickey Mouse, the protesters cosplayed different characters to hide their identity while supporting the protest.
But for a few, it was a movie character that inspired them to bring change.
“Superheroes have always been political, and I have dressed as a special variation of Spider-Man named Spider-Punk because he stands against the anti-anarchist and anti-capitalist society”, said a 20-year-old college student dressed as Spider-Punk, a character from Spider-Verse that became popular for its rebellious anti-establishment stance.
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Gorilla, Mickey Mouse and Batman
At the protest, the Gorilla does it SRK-style, opens his arms, and the youth rush in to hug him and get their photos clicked. The gorilla has a yellow paper pasted on its chest with an Instagram ID — @naach_gorila_naach.
“Protesters need entertainment as well; hence, we have come with a gorilla. Tomorrow we will be here as a white panda”, said Arjun Mann, who had come from Model Town to support the protest.
A few metres away, another man wearing a Spiderman suit is greeting protestors. He is a 25-year-old student from Madhya Pradesh, who was spending his holiday at his home in Kerala. When Shrishannu saw the lathi charge videos on 20 July, he booked his first flight tickets and reached Jantar Mantar.
Shrishannu was in Delhi for four years and had witnessed several protests, including the anti-CAA protest. For him, it was after a long time that such a protest of this scale was happening in the capital city. Since then, he has been spending days and nights at the site.
“Mujhe FOMO (fear of missing out) ho gaya tha. I was really missing protests”, he said, as boys and girls circle him with a loud cheer and he goes back into his character by pulling the mask down.
One protester shouted, “Spidy aa gaya… Modi ko le jao” (Spider-Man has come, please take Prime Minister Narendra Modi).
For him, wearing a Spider-Man mask was like a dream coming true.
“Since childhood I have seen Spider-Man saving people whenever there is trouble. Today I have come here for the same—to save my country”, he said.
While the saviours have come to the protest site. A Mickey Mouse is roaming around on the street of Jantar Mantar holding his ears and posing for the cameras. He is here to spread peace.
This protester has been coming to the protest site since 20 July, but on Friday, he dressed up as Mickey Mouse.
“It is GenZ’s way of showing the world that protests can go along with entertainment”, he said. “But when it comes to demand: Dharmendra Pradhan must resign”.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called for a nationwide peaceful protest Friday under the slogan “Every District. One Day. One Demand.” Sonam Wangchuk met Union Minister JP Nadda and Jitender Singh Thursday, after which he broke his fast. Meanwhile, the protest continues at Jantar Mantar as youth keep thronging in.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)