New Delhi — India’s political establishment has a cockroach problem, and the government seems to be taking it seriously. The infestation is not of insects, however, but millions of young Indians taking part in a viral online protest movement.
On Thursday, the account of the “Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)” was blocked on X.
The CJP was launched only a week ago as a satirical movement to protest remarks by the country’s chief justice, Surya Kant, who was widely reported to have referred to India’s unemployed youth as “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a hearing.
The tongue-in-cheek online satire struck a chord. Within days of its launch, the fake party had garnered more followers on some social media platforms than India’s main political parties.
As the online backlash grew, Kant tried to put a lid on it, insisting he hadn’t referred to unemployed youth in general as vermin, just those who get jobs by faking degrees.
“What I had specifically criticized were those who have entered professions like the bar with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticized the youth of our nation,” he said.
But the army of online cockroaches had already grown into the millions.
Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian student studying public relations at Boston University, launched the online party on May 16 – turning the judge’s purported insult into a symbol of youth anger. The pseudo-party describes itself as a “political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth” — and a “Voice of the Lazy & Unemployed.”
The party’s name and insignia appear to be a satirical spin on the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). “Janta” means people, and AI‑generated images of the CJP’s virtual cockroach-man leader now inundate Indians’ social media feeds.
The CJP Instagram account gained more than 20 million followers in less than a week, more than double the number boasted by the BJP, which has been around for over 40 years. It’s also well over the 13 million followers of the main opposition party, Indian National Congress.
Dipke said Thursday that there had been attempts to hack the CJP’s Instagram account.
Officials may fear that what so far remains a satirical online protest could manifest into something bigger, in a country with a long history of raucous street protests.
The government has not spoken publicly about the CJP’s X account being blocked, but a government official was quoted by the The Indian Express, on the condition of anonymity, as saying the national information and technology agency had been asked to shut it down.
“MeitY [Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology] received an input from the Intelligence Bureau to block the X account of Cockroach Janta Party, citing that it posed a threat to the sovereignty of India,” the official was quoted as saying. “The IB believed that the account was posting inflammatory content through its account, which could have jeopardized the country’s national security.”
Youth anger in India, driven by high unemployment and perceived corruption, led to major protests in neighboring Nepal last year that eventually toppled the government.
India has the largest youth population in the world, with around 367 million people between the ages of 15 and 29.
Overall, India’s unemployment rate is 5.2%, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Statistics. While that figure itself is not remarkable in comparison to other major nations, given India’s population of about 1.4 billion, it translates into millions of people, and youth are disproportionately affected.
A report published in March by the Azim Premji University found that nearly 40% of graduates aged 15-25 and 20% of those aged 25-29 were jobless, a far higher figure than what is seen among India’s less educated young people. Only a small portion of graduates are able to secure stable, salaried jobs within a year, the figures show.
The cockroach party’s online content taps right into the anger of those unemployed masses, with memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary about corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction.
Dipke, the CJP’s “founding president,” has said there are no plans to field candidates to contest elections, calling the online movement an attempt to make politicians more accountable.
The CJP does offer a five-point agenda or manifesto, however, calling for change in the real world. For instance, it calls for a ban on post-retirement rewards for judges, for 50% of the seats in India’s parliament and cabinet to be reserved for women, for the protection of voting rights, an independent press, and a 20-year ban on politicians switching parties, which some have been accused of doing for money.
“This is something unprecedented that is happening. The plan is to change the political discourse and to make politicians more accountable,” Dipke said.
Some politicians believe government action against the CJP is a misstep.
“I’m incredibly intrigued by the rise of #CockroachJantaParty… I understand the frustrations of the youth and see why they are resonating with it. This is precisely why the account being withheld on X is disastrous and deeply unwise,” Shashi Tharoor, a leader in the opposition Congress party, wrote on X.
“There is nothing satirical about it, it’s raising serious issues of the youth in a smart way. Perhaps the reason why the government is unnerved by it,” one student from Delhi, who did not wish to be named, told CBS News on Friday.
Before moving to Boston, Dipke worked with the Aam Aadmi Party, a political organization that emerged from India’s anti-corruption movement in 2012 and fought bitter elections against the main political parties in the capital.
Some critics suggest the cockroach party is a political conspiracy against the ruling party.
On Friday, Dipke said he had received death threats and that his family in India was in danger. He urged authorities to act against those issuing threats.
