Hundreds of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement gathered in the capital New Delhi on Monday (Jul 20) to march on parliament, seeking the resignation of the education minister despite police denying permission for the protest.

The months-old movement and the planned protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term in office, garnering millions of supporters on social media and mobilising support on the ground as well.

The movement has been galvanised since police forcibly moved hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital on Saturday, with thousands of supporters arriving through the night at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi for the march on the opening day of parliament’s monsoon session.

Scores of police and paramilitary security personnel were also deployed at the heavily barricaded site, threatening a stand-off a few km from parliament if the protesters seek to go ahead with their march.

“Quit, quit,” the protesters chanted. “Dharmendra Pradhan quit”, “Narendra Modi quit”, they chanted in Hindi referring to the education minister as well as the prime minister. 

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement began after national medical school entrance test papers were leaked in May, affecting more than 2 million students as it forced them to write the test a second time. 

“All these leaders in power are illiterate and I am here to protest because we do not want question papers to leak,” said Adi Nathan, 21, a student from Meerut city, about 100km from the capital. “This should come to an end.”

Mohammed Tabrez, 22, a student preparing for competitive examinations that allow students admission into professional courses or jobs, said he had come from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh state, about 165 km (100 miles) away.

“We want this corruption to end,” he said. “We want all the frauds in paper leaks, in competitive examinations to end and this is the reason I have come here.”

ACTIVIST SETS TERMS TO END HIS FAST

The CJP initially drew support largely online, amassing 22 million followers on Instagram within days before broadening its appeal and drawing the support of some opposition parties.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in last month seeking the resignation of Pradhan. They were joined by Wangchuk on Jun 28 who launched an indefinite hunger strike at the site.

In a handwritten note from hospital posted on his X account on Monday, Wangchuk said he would end his fast if the government takes accountability for recent failures in the education system and for paper leaks, or if CJP protesters are allowed to reach parliament and lawmakers assure them that the issues would be taken up in the chambers.

He said he would also end the fast if lawmakers and leaders of various parties meet him in hospital and give him the same assurances since his health does not allow him to march on parliament.

The rise of the CJP reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues like high youth unemployment and frequent examination paper leaks, analysts say.

Unemployment in 2025 stood at 3.1 per cent among those aged 15 and above, government data shows, but in the bracket from 15 to 29 it was much higher, at 9.9 per cent, and higher in urban areas, at 13.6 per cent, than the 8.3 per cent figure in rural regions. (CNA/ Reuters)

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A satirical online movement dubbed the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) has rapidly gained attention in India, transforming a controversial remark into a wider expression of youth frustration and political discontent.

The movement emerged after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly compared unemployed youth drifting toward journalism and activism to “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a court hearing. Although he later clarified that the remarks referred specifically to individuals with “fake and bogus degrees,” the comments had already sparked widespread reaction online.

The backlash soon evolved into a social media phenomenon, with thousands embracing the label under the slogan #MainBhiCockroach (“I too am a cockroach”).

The CJP is not a formal political party but an online collective built around satire. Its membership criteria humorously include being unemployed, lazy, chronically online and having “the ability to rant professionally.”

The initiative was launched by Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and student at Boston University, who said the idea started as a joke.

Within days, the movement attracted tens of thousands of sign-ups through online forms and drew support from opposition figures including Mahua Moitra, Kirti Azad and lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

The movement has also moved beyond social media, with volunteers reportedly appearing at protests and public events dressed as cockroaches.

The CJP’s Instagram account crossed 10 million followers on Thursday, surpassing the official Instagram account of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has around 8.7 million followers.

However, its X account, which had gained over 200,000 followers, is reportedly no longer visible in India and displays a notice saying it was withheld “in response to a legal demand.”

Supporters describe the movement as a fresh alternative in a political environment many young people see as increasingly controlled and disconnected from their concerns, while critics argue it amounts to carefully packaged opposition-driven digital politics.

The development has also reignited discussions on youth engagement in India, where nearly half of the country’s 1.4 billion people are under the age of 30 but formal political participation among young people remains relatively low.

According to a recent survey cited by the BBC, 29% of young Indians avoid political participation altogether, while only 11% belong to a political party.

The BBC reported that many observers see the movement as reflecting a broader sense of frustration among young people facing concerns over jobs, economic pressures and representation. (Newswire/BBC)

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