By Oscar Rebello | Goa Frankly, even the cockroaches themselves never expected such a decisive victory.

Tenacious. Tough. Tumultuous. Tiger-like.

When we—the dinosaurs of India, strait-jacketed as we are in our political beliefs and positions, refusing to cross the aisle—had almost given up hope that anything substantive, rather than garish optics, was possible on India’s political stage…

BOOM!

Along comes Gen Z.

With humour, guile and charm, they shed all the toxic political baggage that we dinosaurs carry. They pulled off such a dramatic masterpiece that all we could do was drop our drooping jaws to the floor and stare in amazement at a moment of pure joy and triumph.

After clearing the cobwebs from my now suitably demented brain, here are my key takeaways—and perhaps some lessons for our beloved “darridhr Goem.”

This Was Gen Z’s Movement

This movement had nothing—absolutely nothing—to do with the established political parties in the fray.

Nada.

They, as much as the BJP, were equally clueless about the events unfolding. Now, of course, they are riding the wave, which is their right.

But this movement was about the genuine, visceral angst of Gen Z, whose anger against a corrupt, contemptible and compromised system—overseen by the Gods of Hades—was simply unsustainable.

It had to be fought back against.

The familiar BJP toolkit of “anti-national”, “anti-Hindu”, etc., etc., went flying out of the window.

This was about an urgent—urgent—issue that the otherwise always-clever BJP simply did not see coming.

And importantly, neither did any other political party.

Corruption Is the New Political Odyssey

If the BJP needs to learn one pivotal lesson from this moment, it is this:

Corruption is the new Odyssey running in town.

Back in 2014, India Against Corruption made it a centre-stage issue. And despite the BJP’s laudable official attempts at cleaning up banking, finance and tax evasion, political greed and corruption are at their abysmal nadir.

No change whatsoever.

Just take Goa, for example.

The sales of deodorants and perfumes must have skyrocketed, with the sickening stench of corruption oozing like a chronic, pestilent pustule from every nook and cranny of our body politic.

The talk is lofty.

The practice is utterly hollow.

And the cockroach has realised this—and is biting back.

No amount of Yuva Morcha guys displaying faux outrage at some stupid kid holding up some unnecessary banner is going to change this perception.

The RSS: Time for Introspection

This has to be the most disappointing of all.

I have friends who are staunch RSS followers, and I have healthy disagreements with them.

But give it to the RSS: only selfless service over a century, based on a philosophy however skewed, could have brought them to this position of power.

And they did give us incorruptible folk—much like the Congress of our freedom movement gave us.

Vajpayee.

Advani.

Joshi.

Mukherjee.

Parrikar.

Arlekar.

Even Velingkar—much reviled, of course.

Different ideology, but incorruptible.

And that was the RSS’s true strength.

And what do they boast of now?

The scum of Congress turncoats, who would sell their mothers for a price.

Leave alone the Motherland.

Wasn’t it interesting that only the actual, truly faithful of the BJP—Sawant, Damu, Shripad, etc.—came to the fierce defence of Dharmendra Pradhan?

Why?

Because the Pradhan family comes from a lifelong RSS family.

And he was caught in the corruption crossfire, even though there are far bigger fish swimming—and devouring.

Did the Congress turncoats in Goa rise to his defence?

Chanting for Modi is different.

A resounding NO.

And therein lies a lesson for the RSS, if they care to listen.

The Hindutva-Nationalism train has left the station. We get that argument, and in many ways, you have won that round.

Corruption—and only corruption—is the new blockbuster in town.

Wake up, guys, and smell the new saffron.

The Opposition: Still Not Ready

In 2014, the Opposition—which was then the BJP—was well-oiled, perfectly disciplined and ready at the starting line to reap the whirlwind of a movement after fifteen years of political power.

In 2026?

Absolutely not.

If there is no unity amongst all—ALL—Opposition parties; if individual leaders are interested only in holding on to their personal fiefdoms to strike a bargain later; if key Opposition leaders do not know how to reach across the aisle and engage meaningfully and sincerely with right-wing constituencies—which the cockroaches so spectacularly demonstrated is possible—then nothing fundamentally changes.

Most importantly, if the Opposition is still perceived as a swamp of festering corruption, it has a serious problem.

And Modi, despite this knock, is still loved by millions as a flawed saviour of sorts.

So the odds are still stacked against us.

Bigly!!

POSTSCRIPT: Gen Z Has Changed the Rules

Whatever the political fallout of this momentous Gen Z show, one thing is certain:

Gen Z is not going to fight your stupid identity and victim politics.

No caste.

No Hindu-Muslim.

No language bakwaas.

They are not going to be easily drawn into that trap.

After all, do cockroaches have a caste or religion?

Just asking, for my knowledge.

But if there is a vile, vicious attempt to snatch their futures by foul means anytime again, they will—they absolutely will—swarm the streets again.

Be on watch.

The world is churning again.