‘This is about the dignity of youth’: India’s ‘cockroach’ movement pushes beyond satire ...News

Born online, the protest is now demanding government accountability, while observers raise questions about who is steering it – and why

It has been one month since Abhijeet Dipke, founder of an online meme turned political movement, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), landed in Delhi from the US, where he did his Master’s in Public Relations at Boston University.

Dipke and supporters of ‘Cockroach’ movement have spent last month at Jantar Mantar, an iconic site in the heart of Indian capital, protesting against Narendra Modi-led government policies. The protesters demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan amid a controversy over question paper leaks for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), India’s unified, nationwide entrance examination for undergraduate medical programs.

The test was conducted on May 3, but 10 days later, the National Testing Agency cancelled the exam following widespread allegations of the circulation of a “guess paper” and multiple accusations of irregularities. This had affected over 2.2 million aspirants. On June 21, the re-test was conducted. At least 11 students have allegedly died by suicide in the period between the cancellation of NEET and the scheduled re-test, according to Indian media reports citing police records and family accounts. 

Paper leaks in India constitute a huge and volatile problem owing to a vast demand-supply mismatch; millions of candidates fiercely compete for a small number of government seats in jobs and medical degrees.

Even though the NEET exam was conducted afresh, CPJ movement supporters reject the government’s claim that the crisis has been resolved. 

Protesters’ Demands

After landing in India on June 6, Dipke led a massive youth sit-in protest in the capital that was followed by a series of local demonstrations in Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Bengaluru.

On June 20, the CJP began its second nationwide protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The rally appeared to draw a larger crowd demanding the resignation of the education minister and turned into a continuous sit-down campaign which continues to date. While over the days the number of protesters has reduced, the demands still stand. 

“We are here because we are fed up with the system of corruption in education. Young people are taking their lives because hard work is not bringing results,” Shikha Uttal, 25, from Himachal Pradesh, told RT at the protest site.

For 22-year-old Santosh Singh, from Jaipur, it took hours of travel to participate in the protest in Delhi. “I am here for my brother, who studied hard for NEET but got mentally disturbed after the exam was cancelled. He could not be here, but I came. The system is taking away our hard work and selling it,” Singh said. He argued that the exams in the country have turned into “a lottery.”  

“The youth of India are really pissed off and uncertain about their future,” says Singh. “The dreams of India’s youth are wiped out by a simple WhatsApp paper leak, it totally ruins your sanity. This is not about politics or political parties; this is the question of youth’s dignity.”

Anju Kirti, 22, a student from Delhi, who joined the protest at Jantar Mantar, said the re-exam conducted by the government does not address the “systematic corruption in education.” “We want an end to it,” she said. 

In India, observers say that unemployment, delays in competitive examinations, recruitment bottlenecks and repeated paper leaks have left many young people deeply frustrated. The CJP quickly emerged as an outlet for that anger.

However, the slogans and demands voiced from the protest site were not limited to education. Over the past two weeks, a range of political, climate and farmers’ activists have joined the CJP founder on the makeshift stage. Some opposition parties in India, including Aam Aadmi Party  (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party have also openly voiced support for the Cockroach movement, with their representatives appearing on the stage along with Dipke. Addressing protesters on Saturday, TMC party MP Mahua Moitra urged them not to be discouraged by criticism or labels. “This is your chance to write history. Take it, grab it, stay with it,” she said.

On June 28, climate activist Sonam Wanchuk, 59,  began an indefinite hunger strike demanding the resignation of Pradhan. The hunger strike on Monday entered its second week, with activists raising concerns over his condition. “Still Alive, though not kicking…” Wanchuk posted on his X account on Sunday.

Ahead of the June 20 rally, Dipke wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the government to provide Rs 10 million ($105 000) compensation to families of students who allegedly died by suicide amid examination-related controversies. Dipke also reiterated the demand for the removal of the education minister.

“The Cockroach Janta Party has been demanding the resignation of the education minister for the past month and has been protesting across the country for our demands. All that we students want is to see some accountability for the loss of lives... He [the Education Minister] is serving at your pleasure, and the buck stops with the prime minister,” Dipkee said, addressing CPJ supporters.

On July 4, Dipke released another letter written by CPJ to Modi. The letter, which many social media commenters claimed to be AI-generated, urges the PM to break his “resounding silence” over the CPJ protest at the Jantar Mantar and hold the education minister accountable. 

“We have been sitting in protest at the Jantar Mantar for the past 15 days, and today marks the seventh day of educationist Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike. How long will your government choose to ignore our voices, sir?” the letter asked. 

Letter to PM Modi: For how long will you ignore Jantar Mantar and our voices? pic.twitter.com/hSIpehvzxt

“We are sitting here because your government has repeatedly failed to stop exam paper leaks that have shattered the faith and future of crores of young Indians,” the letter said. The CJP claimed that the number of student suicides rose from 11 before the beginning of their rally on June 20 till 29. 

Government's response 

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in an interview with an Indian news channel in June slammed the ‘cockroach’ movement, comparing them with “disruptive elements.”

“Those who were rejected in democracy have come in disguise and are now after the system. They raise slogans for those who want to divide the country. They have been identified,” Pradhan said during an interview with NDTV. He added that some people do not have faith in the country’s progress.

Commenting on the question paper leaks, Pradhan accused the teachers who were found involved in the incident as “protectors who turned predators.”  He also praised the NEET re-exam as a success. 

The fresh exam was held on June 21 under heavy security, with the country’s armed forces and state police units deployed alongside biometric verification systems. Authorities also temporarily blocked the Telegram messaging platform across India from June 16 to June 22. The move came after the National Testing Agency raised concerns over the growing misuse of the platform by organized networks allegedly targeting NEET aspirants with fake paper leak claims and fraudulent schemes.

The speed with which the CJP emerged as a movement and gained attention in India – at least online – triggered a sharp political backlash from the ruling BJP, whose senior leaders dismissed it as a “foreign-sponsored propaganda blitz” rather than a genuine popular movement.

Sukanta Majumdar, union minister and chief of the West Bengal BJP, claimed that the CJP’s online traffic was being artificially boosted by cross-border bots. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also publicly attacked the party’s online rise, suggesting that the trending anti-paper-leak agitation was heavily driven by foreign bot networks, specifically linking them to an “anti-India George Soros gang.”

READ MORE: Action, election: How Gen Zs are rewiring Indian politics

Beyong the hype

The CJP emerged on May 16 as a reaction to an uncomfortable remark by chief justice of India, Surya Kant, in open court, who compared young people to cockroaches.  The online reaction to CPJ was phenomenal, within just five days, the number of followers on CJP’s Instagram page surpassed 20 million, beating both the furling BJP and the key opposition Congress party on social media and quickly morphing into a real-life movement of youngsters.

Even though the movement succeeded in channeling the concerns of Gen Z, political analysts argue it is too early to predict whether it is short-term hype or could someday translate into a full-fledged political force.

“The future of the Cockroach Janata Party is uncertain beyond next year,” says Sakshi Tyagi, a research scholar based in New Delhi. She added that internet protests tend to explode and vanish as fast as they appear.

Even then, the emergence of the movement serves as a wake up call to the entire political establishment, including the opposition. “In a BJP-dominated national climate, simply being anti-BJP is no longer a sufficient political identity. Voters, especially young voters, are looking for freshness, authenticity, risk, and recognisable anger,” said Rasheed Kidwai, author and political commentator. “They want a political language that feels alive, not focus-grouped. They want leaders who look like they have arrived from outside the durbar, not inherited a room inside it. 

“This is why the CJP matters even if it never becomes a real party. It has already performed one function that many opposition parties struggle with: capturing the mood at speed. Its absurdity made it legible. Its humour made it shareable. Its anger made it sticky,”  the expert added. 

Sandeep Manudhane, an educationist, argued that people should be aware of the newly arrived Cockroach Janta Party and called it a “venture” of the AAP party. The founder of CJP, according to his social media profiles, was reportedly associated with AAP, a staunch rival of the BJP,  from 2020 to 2023. 

“I feel really sad for the many very young people now being conned again by CJP (AAP), as we have gone through the entire cycle in 2008-2013 period with the AAP-IAC (India Against Corruption) giant scam,” Manudhane said in a post on X. He was referring to the anti-corruption movement that was particularly visible around 2011 and eventually led to the formation of the AAP led by activist and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal.

“All we can do is warn the young folks, based on our earlier experience. Rest is their destiny now. But remember, with Kejriwal, the end result is guaranteed. He’ll use and throw you out most mercilessly like he did with the entire founding team in IAC AAP itself, while cornering all gains. You under-estimate the man at your severe peril. Research and learn,” Manudhane added. 

Online, too, the CPJ movement has not escaped criticism. Social media users have alleged that Dipke appears at protest sites after spending much of his time in luxury hotels, while others have pointed to his political background to argue that the CJP is not an impartial youth platform, but a strategic proxy for mainstream opposition parties.

Back at the protest site in Jantar Mantar, 23‑year‑old graduate Yugesh Sampath, who has been looking for a job for the past two years, says he hopes the “cockroaches” will not “vanish” until corruption in education and employment comes to an end.

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