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By:

C.S. Krishnamurthy

21 June 2025 at 7:45:51 pm

A Spade Has No Party

There is something reassuring about a spade. It does not ask who is holding it before doing its job. It digs where it is told to dig. A hole made by a government worker is no different from one made by an opposition worker. The earth, fortunately, has no political affiliation. That simple image offers a useful way of looking at the Cockroach Janata Party, or CJP, a youth-led movement that has emerged around concerns over education, employment and accountability. Its significance may...

A Spade Has No Party

There is something reassuring about a spade. It does not ask who is holding it before doing its job. It digs where it is told to dig. A hole made by a government worker is no different from one made by an opposition worker. The earth, fortunately, has no political affiliation. That simple image offers a useful way of looking at the Cockroach Janata Party, or CJP, a youth-led movement that has emerged around concerns over education, employment and accountability. Its significance may ultimately lie less in whether it becomes a political force and more in what its emergence says about the changing relationship between young citizens and traditional politics. The CJP story reportedly began almost as a joke. But jokes sometimes possess an inconvenient habit of revealing truths that solemn speeches avoid. What began as satire attracted digital attention and developed into youth mobilisation. Beneath the humour lies something more serious: a generation that may not want another political flag, but wants existing flags to pay attention. A New Language Established political parties appear increasingly uncertain about how to speak to Gen Z. The problem may not be a lack of communication, but its direction. Traditional politics has often spent too much time speaking at the young and too little time speaking with them. Gen Z’s concerns are hardly confined to the digital world. Education, employment, security, dignity and accountability remain real-life concerns. Social media may provide the vocabulary, but the grievances are not virtual. Digital platforms have simply provided a meeting ground where concerns that conventional political structures may have failed to accommodate can find expression. This does not automatically make CJP a political party, nor does every participant necessarily subscribe to a common ideology. Its significance may instead lie in its ability to provide a forum for a generation-based articulation of concerns. We use the word “political” rather carelessly. Anything involving public affairs, government or collective decision-making is political in the broadest sense. But political does not necessarily mean partisan. A citizen demanding better examinations, employment opportunities or accountability from a minister is participating in democracy. He need not be preparing an election manifesto. This is where CJP becomes interesting. Its real test is whether it can remain an independent voice without eventually becoming another conventional political formation. Imagine a movement saying: we will criticise the government when it is wrong, the opposition when it is wrong, and ourselves when we are wrong. That would be an unusual political creature. It would also be a useful one. The real test of non-partisanship is not what a movement says about neutrality. It is whether it applies the same yardstick to everyone. If a government mishandles education, question it. If another government does the same, question it again. If a political party demands accountability in opposition but forgets the principle in power, call that out too. A spade should remain a spade even when somebody paints it in party colours. The Cricket Test The temptation to choose sides is understandable. Political discourse increasingly resembles cricket played by spectators who have forgotten that the scoreboard exists. A batsman from our team can edge the ball and we call it bad luck. The same edge by the other team becomes evidence of cheating. The problem is not cricket. It is our loyalty to the shirt. Democracy suffers from the same habit. We become so invested in who said something that we forget to ask whether it is true. An independent political voice must therefore be prepared to disappoint its own supporters. That is easier said than done. Digital technology has made mobilisation remarkably easy. But digital reach is not democratic depth. Followers are not necessarily volunteers, and viral outrage is not sustained civic engagement. The CJP’s challenge, therefore, is to convert attention into participation and measurable accountability. Every movement born outside established politics eventually encounters the gravitational pull of politics. Remaining independent is considerably harder in practice than in principle. CJP’s credibility will depend upon whether it can resist becoming what it criticises. Yet there is another, more interesting measure of success. If, a year from now, political parties begin placing education, employment and youth concerns more prominently at the centre of their agendas because they fear ignoring younger citizens, the CJP may have achieved its purpose without becoming a conventional party. Perhaps that is the deeper relevance of CJP that it may remind political forces that citizens are not permanent spectators in the democratic arena. (The writer is a retired banker and author. He can be reached at krs1957@hotmail.com. Views personal.)

Mumbai Moves Toward Unified Commuter Experience

Mumbai’s metro today is a testament to the collective effort of multiple agencies—MMOPL, MMMOCL, MMRDA, MMRCL, Maha Metro, and CIDCO, each contributing to a network that’s rapidly redefining how the city moves. From where I stand in the mobility space, the next big leap is clear: bringing these strong systems even closer together so the experience feels unified, intuitive, and truly designed around the commuter.


I see the unification of metro rail operations across the MMR as a major turning point for Mumbai, one that will fundamentally upgrade the daily experience of lakhs of commuters. This move is more than administrative restructuring; it’s a shift toward a commuter-first mindset. When agencies unify, planning strengthens, operations simplify, and commuting becomes smoother for everyone.


Today, the real challenge isn’t traveling on the metro, it’s transitioning between lines. Every interchange forces commuters to pause: open an app, load the QR section, regenerate a ticket, complete payment, repeat. On average, commuters spend 20–40 seconds just to book a single ticket—opening an app, waiting for it to load, selecting stations, generating a QR, and completing payment. Add an interchange, and that jumps to 60–90 seconds per transfer. For someone switching lines twice a day, that’s 10–15 minutes lost every week, nearly 10 hours a year, time spent not traveling but booking tickets.


Now imagine if all of that friction simply disappeared. With the unification of metro agencies, commuters will be able to book once and move across the network without any pause, no restarting, no multiple QRs, no switching between different interfaces.


Around the world, cities that unified their metro agencies and ticketing, like Singapore’s SimplyGo and London’s Oyster/contactless, saw a dramatic shift in how people moved. Integration made networks feel simpler, transfers smoother, and ticketing almost invisible. Commuters didn’t have to decode systems; they just traveled. Mumbai is now moving in that same direction, and the impact on daily riders will be significant.


At Yatri, the official Mumbai local app, we’re deeply rooted in the city’s mobility landscape and fully aligned with this future. Our goal is simple: to make travel effortless. Whether it’s providing live train locations, simplifying metro ticketing, or moving toward a unified travel experience. We believe commuters deserve a system that respects their time and delivers real convenience every single day.


I believe this unification of metro systems will change the rhythm of daily travel for lakhs of commuters. A connected city isn’t just easier to navigate, it gives back people their time, their ease, and their dignity while moving through it. And at Yatri, we’re committed to supporting this shift and building experiences that make every commute simpler, faster, and more unified for every Mumbaikar.


(The writer is a Co-Founder of Yatri. Views personal.)

 

 

 

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