What started out as a social media joke among Gen Z is turning into an irritant for the political establishment in India, as the “Cockroach Janta Party” draws support from young people frustrated by a lack of jobs and a string of controversies in the education system.
Less than a month after being formed, the mock political party had already amassed more than 22 million followers on Instagram – more than twice that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The CJP’s founder, Boston University graduate Abhijeet Dipke, returned to India from the US on Saturday (Jun 6) and led a youth protest in New Delhi calling for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
His visit will provide an early test of whether the party’s online popularity can be translated into political support on the ground in a country with one of the world’s youngest populations.
WHAT IS THE “COCKROACH” MOVEMENT?
The satirical movement emerged on May 16 after India’s top judge, Surya Kant, referred to some unemployed young people as “parasites” and “cockroaches” during a court hearing. His remarks sparked backlash on social media, although Kant later said he had been misquoted by sections of the media.
At the time, Dipke was finishing his graduate studies in the US and looking for a job. He responded to the controversial comments by creating a parody website for the “Cockroach Janta Party,” billing it as a home for India’s “lazy, unemployed and forgotten” and a voice for “millions of young Indians who feel neglected by traditional politics”.
The website quickly went viral. Dipke has since sought to channel that anger into activism, seizing on a series of examination scandals to highlight what he sees as a deeper crisis in India’s education system and to challenge the political status quo.
The 30-year-old, who previously worked as a communications strategist for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, has downplayed his political ambitions.
He said it’s “too early” to say whether his movement could eventually become a registered political party that fields candidates and contests elections, but that he wants to convert the CJP into “a kind of a pressure group that holds the government accountable”.
