Revolution Twenty20

This blog is a direct response to the thinking task provided by Dr. Dilip Barad, the Head of the Department of English at MKBU. I aim to address the questions assigned by Dr. Barad, which are

 1)  Social realism of corruption in the private education system

The Revolution Twenty20 has dealt well with the corruption specially in the context of education and politics in India incorporated with political power and journalism. As the blurb of the book says, out of two intelligent childhood friends, one wanted to make money out of his intelligence and one to wanted to use his intelligence to start a revolution. The novel is woven around both of them, as Chetan Bhagat has dedicated his novel to Indian student and the holy river, clearly shows that he wants to throw some light on education and holiness.(So with the corruption disturbing them)

To Varanasi,

 To the holy river,

To the Indian student,

‘Twenty-six,’ Gopal said, a hint of pride in his voice. 'Not just the youngest, but also the most uneducated director you’ve met.’ This prologue of the novel is a conversation between Gopal, the protagonist and director of engineering college in the novel and  Chetan Bhagat, himself as a listener, where a director himself says that he is not well educated, that too with the pride! clearly it is suggesting that he has worked more to make money than in shaping his well educative self.

“I am a motivational speaker now and travel around the country. As part of that, I visited several small colleges and noticed the rampant corruption in the education sector. I thought this affects millions of youth so I should do something about it. Hence, ‘Revolution 2020’ was born,” Chetan said. 

‘Yes. I have done twenty events with his blessings. How else could I get city authority approvals? I personally take his cut to him. I will take you too. For my own cut,’ he said and winked at me.' (116)

Sunil, who was doing career fairs for students in Varanasi, meets Gopal and comes to know the matter and brings him to MLA Shukla, a politician who can fix the issue well, doing it smoothly with the help of corruption.

The corruption in the education system gets started with the building of college, from managing land for buildings as it is showing in the Revolution 2020, ‘You can obtain permission to convert agricultural land to educational use,’

The description of bribery in an education field has been described as there so in the pollical fields. In revolution Twenty20, corruption goes well with the system of bribery, You need Varanasi Nagar Nigam’s approval for the building plans, AICTE approval for the college. There are inspections. Everyone has to be taken care of. It is standard.’ 

MLA or any political leaders are also included to grow-up there business, rather than cleaning the problems and bad practices in the countries, specially in developing countries like India. As in the 'Revolution Twenty20' Raghav claims MLA Shukla being corrupt- keeping all the money of Ganga cleaning grant and making his image clear by engaging in non- profit organizations and colleges.

2) Contemporary relevance of Raghav's journalism [The YouTuber / social media journalism in today's India]

“Revolution 2020 – a story about childhood friends Gopal, Raghav, and Aarti who struggle to find success, love, and happiness in Varanasi. However, it is not easy to attain these in an unfair society that rewards the corrupt. As Gopal gives in to the system, and Raghav fights it, who will win?” (Blurb on the last cover page)

“'There's politics in organizations. He will learn to fit in,' I said. - Gopal

As there will be many reporters Raghav had the attitude of  fighting with the corrupt systems, even if he had many troubles he did not give up, when he lost his job, at Dainik samachar, he started small templets calling it revolution2020, when Goal was feeling comfortable and good to fit in the system.

The first article which Raghav did on MLA Shukla says,

Interestingly, MLA Raman Lal Shukla is one of the trustees of GangaTech, He has helped fund the college. Shukla also owns land around the GangaTech campus, estimated to cost between five and ten crores. Where did Shukla obtain these funds from? Incidentally, he floated the college three years ago, around the same time that his name came up in the Ganga Action Plan scam.

Is this college an attempt to clean up his reputation? People come to the Ganga to clean their sins. Is Shukla trying to clean away his sins against Ganga?

In the response to this article spoiling the reputation of MLA Shukla and Gopal's college, Gopal had tried to fix the matter with money power like this,

‘Sailesh, I signed you the biggest cheque among all the places we advertised in. And what did you do? On the day of our launch?’ Sailesh understood my context and shifted his gaze. ‘I have five lakhs more to spend next week. Tell me why I should not make Varanasi Times happy and give them this?’ I waved the trust’s chequebook at him.

The current situation of Journalism in India: Renowned Indian journalist Ravish Kumar made a significant impact at NDTV India as Senior Executive Editor, hosting influential programs like Prime Time. Despite accolades such as the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award and the Ramon Magsaysay Award, he resigned in 2022 post-acquisition, shifting to independent digital media with his YouTube channel. Akash Banerjee, known for "The Deshbhakt," a satirical show addressing societal issues, transitioned from TV to YouTube. Dhruv Rathee, a social media activist, gained fame for his fact-checking political videos and introduced Pee News. Vikas Tiwari runs Bastar Talkies, focusing on tribal issues, prioritizing unbiased journalism on YouTube. Devanshi Joshi continues the spirit of independent media with Jamavat YouTube Channel.

There are channels of politics and money always had been affecting people and the work they are doing, because always if one wants to fight the system and mighty powers, they will need money to start up, if broken financially some will stop, some would start with small and easy ways.

3) Do you think that an opportunity for a good novel is wasted because the story is told from Gopal's perspective? Can it be better if narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective? How would it be better if it was narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective?

As Gopal is the narrator of his story and his focus is on the corrupt education as a tool of making money, the flesh of light is not enough on revolution, rather it is upon the love triangle. Raghav being more focused revolutionary and Aarti had been a mere object when Gopal addressed his story, if there has been some other narrators, a good story can definitely come out. 

Chetan Bhagat employs a distinctive narrative technique in his novels, characterized by prologues and epilogues. A hallmark of his writing style is the inclusion of these sections, where Bhagat appears, interacting with one of the characters narrating the story in first-person.

The other descriptions are given in that presentation and video.

Video and Presentation of Revolution Twenty20

'Revolution Twenty20'- Chetan Bhagat.pptx from RinkalDangar

Thank You!