Indian Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy said a recent two-week movement led by young people under the Kakaroch Janata Party, or CJP, had dealt a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public image, built over more than two decades. Roy made the remarks on Monday at the India International Centre in Delhi during the launch of the Hindi translation of her book, Meri Maa, Meri Gangster.

Roy said elections are not the only factor in politics and that public movements can quickly shake political narratives and images constructed over many years. She said an image built over 24 years with spending of crores of rupees, and in which some had described Modi as an incarnation of Vishnu, had been broken by the “cockroaches” in two weeks. She described it as a victory bigger than an electoral win.

Roy cautioned that the struggle was not over, saying democratic forces could face harder times if the government retained control of state institutions and power. She urged opposition parties and civil society to unite to protect democratic institutions. She also praised the maturity and responsibility of young participants in the Jantar Mantar movement despite differences of opinion.