Hello CJP

Political party named after cockroach makes sense. Roaches have all the qualities netas need

There can be no quarrel with the new political kid on the block: Cockroach Janta Party. The very name courts attention. Think – roaches have attributes and qualities that are tailormade for politics. Long antennae, scanning and sweeping to sense their environment, and jointed legs, to scoot as fast as possible from danger. Calling roaches pests is just speciesist contempt. Think again – what’s politics if not endurance, and the ability to stay alive, at least a good week, after being rendered headless. Cockroaches are the most adaptable. Defections and aisle-hopping? Sure. Roaches also scurry fearlessly into every nook and cranny, and are nigh impossible to dislodge, no matter how big the effort. We dare say CJP can be serious competition for existing political parties – after all, the cockroach predates human history and has, for as long as we know, evaded the thwack of the rolled newspaper, and the sweep of the broom.

It’ll be amiss not to mention that of the 4,600 species of cockroaches worldwide, barring Antarctica, it’s the Asian type, in fact the Indian-origin one, that’s considered the ancestor of the ubiquitous global species – the German roach. It’s the Cockroach of Indian Origin (CIO) that colonised the world – 2,100 years ago. Entomologists, in fact, have nothing but respect for the six-legged, flat-bodied conqueror of the world, which have been around since the Jurassic period. Big boy dinos came a cropper, but this little brown sahib flourished. In no small measure thanks to their thick skin – a tough exoskeleton that protects from getting crushed or squeezed, with an ability to withstand pressure thousand times their weight. So, yeah, let’s keep a watch on CJP. It has a lot to do if it has to live up to its name.