If Bapat is the common man but an uncompromising citizen, Mundhe’s appeal is different and Dipke clocks a totally different rizz
Calling clicking a like on social media as therapeutic and an act of resistance, Waghmore said that any systemic change is utopia-of-sorts but the social world cannot function without them. As institutions fall short of popular expectations, non- institutional actors become important,” he said. Reiterating the importance of citizen activists for a good democracy, Shruti Tambe former head of sociology dept in SPPU said that in a society with the highest social stratification and discrimination, there is great attraction of outspoken heroes.
A month ago, Pune’s own activist Vidyanand Bapat dared to argue against loud music breaching all noise norms in Maharashtra ’s largest festival—Ganeshotsav. Youth activist and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke talks about the biggest anxiety of majority parents in India- good education for their children. Together, Vidyanand Bapat, Tukaram Mundhe and Abhijit Dipke, have left behind popular politicians and film stars to become recurring characters in Maharashtra’s feeds. Why do they resonate with so many people? “In concrete terms, we are witnessing a popular demand (across class) and surge for better, genuine and efficient governance. Even the privileged seem disappointed and everything seems urgent.
It can force a response or bring an issue into public view, but durable change needs institutional process, policy action and sustained pressure,” said Reddy. “The open question is whether these digital voices can convert virality into sustained participation or whether they simply generate the next viral moment without building anything lasting,” she added. But she warns that these figures that function as informal bridges between citizen grievance and institutional power can also be exploited to manufacture grievance for attention. “Virality produces visibility, not necessarily change.
Since then, political communication has shifted dramatically, and Bapat, Mundhe, and Dipke reflect this broader shift, Madhavi Reddy, head of the Department of Media and Communication Studies at SPPU, said. When people experience institutions as distant, bureaucratic or slow, they look for individuals who appear accessible and willing to confront the system directly,” said Reddy. “Also, in a democracy, ideally we should be committed to institutional protocols, and institutional solutions. Social media has created a new layer of informal intermediaries who can influence by repeatedly voicing public grievances. “Their appeal rests on perceived accessibility and authenticity without any visible institutional filters; they read as unscripted, saying what I would say. In social media and digital reel culture, People follow people, not institutions.
Earlier movements like JP movement were based on socio-political ideologies. Maharashtra has a long history of personality-driven politics before the social media age, but the Anna Hazare movement is a confluence of social and social media movements. But we are even today more bent on individualistic ‘solutions’. But today we have spontaneous protests against a decision or event,” said Tambe.