The spiny, long-legged and often reviled cockroach has become a symbol of unlikely dissent among India’s Generation Z, a sharp rebuke of the establishment in the world’s largest democracy.
In less than a week, the Cockroach Janta Party (its name is a satire of the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party) has amassed more than 19 million followers on Instagram, almost double the government’s audience.
The system owes its existence to a comment by Chief Justice Surya Kant, who was widely seen as calling the country’s unemployed youth “cockroaches”.
“There are young people who are like cockroaches. They don’t have jobs, they don’t have a professional place,” he said during a May 15 court hearing.
Kant later clarified that he was talking about people who used fake degrees to get into certain professions. But the damage is already being done in a vast country where youth unemployment persists.
The comment sparked viral protests, and Gen Zers turned the insult into a symbol of pride. AI-generated images of the party’s virtual cockroach mascot are now flooding social media feeds, news channels and newspapers in the country of 1.4 billion people.
Although not an official political party, the Gokiri Janta Party serves as a forum for boisterous young people to air their frustrations with soaring youth unemployment and what they see as political dysfunction and corruption.
“They are raising national issues,” said Amrita Singh, 21, a student from India’s capital Delhi.
“I think it (Cockroach Janta Party) started as a satire, but I really like the direction it’s going,” said Sristi, another student who only gave her first name. “Young people need a platform where we can voice our demands, because most political parties somehow…miss out on the issues that actually matter.”
CNN has asked the ruling BJP for a response.
There is no doubt that the BJP remains very popular.
The party, often said to be the world’s largest party by membership, has recently expanded into West Bengal, a state previously a stronghold of rare opposition, further cementing its dominance in the country.
India’s ‘cockroach’ party goes viral
India’s Chief Justice has made remarks that were widely interpreted as calling the country’s youth “cockroaches”. What followed was the satirical “Cockroach Janta Party,” which now has more than 10 million followers on Instagram. CNN’s Lea Mogul reports.
Since the party took power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, critics have accused it of suppressing civil liberties and the press, pursuing a Hindu-first policy and stoking religious divisions within India’s secular democracy. The BJP has repeatedly denied such characterizations.
The Cockroach Janta Party mentions this on its website.
“We do not check religion, caste or gender,” the registration form states.
In its manifesto, the Roach Janta Party said it would revoke the licenses of “all media companies owned by Mr. Ambani and Mr. Adani,” referring to Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, two of India’s richest men who own prominent television channels and are seen as close to Prime Minister Modi, “to make way for a truly independent media.”
“Five years ago, no one was ready to speak out against Mr. Modi and the government,” party founder Abhijeet Dipke told The Associated Press, adding that now “times are changing.”
The political communications strategist and student at Boston University was previously active in the Aam Aadmi Party, a political group born from India’s anti-corruption movement in 2012.
“Young people are really dissatisfied, but the government is not acknowledging their concerns,” Dipke told the news agency.
Supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party also gave offline speeches this week, reportedly dressed up as insects to clean up India’s notoriously polluted Yamuna river in Delhi.
But some young people have also voiced their disapproval, arguing that the Cockroach Janta Party is a meme embraced by more privileged youth and has little to offer real political solutions.
“A section of the urban middle class suddenly realized that the system they had watched abuse others for years could also humiliate them,” one Instagram user wrote in a post that has received more than 15,000 likes.
In recent years, South Asia has seen a number of youth-led movements against corruption and nepotism.
In 2024, a student-led uprising of tens of millions of people in Bangladesh toppled the dictatorial regime of Sheikh Hasina, forcing her to flee to neighboring India, where she has lived in exile ever since. And in Nepal, a youth-led movement overthrew the previous government last year, paving the way for the election of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah.
In a statement on social media, Mr. Dipke said his party could not compare to the one that evolved over there. Young people “understand their constitutional rights and will express their dissent through peaceful democratic means,” he said.
To join the Cockroach Janta Party, a member must be “lazy” and “unemployed”, a sarcastic response to the Chief Justice’s comments.
However, beyond the humor lies a harsh reality.
With an average age of 29 years, India has one of the youngest populations in the world. Young people are becoming increasingly educated and ambitious, but the country is yet to reap its potential economic benefits.
A recent report by Azim Premji University in the southern city of Bangalore found that nearly 40% of graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed.
“The rapid expansion in the number of graduates has not been matched by growth in graduate employment,” the report said.
CNN has previously reported that in recent years, an increasing number of young Indians have taken dangerous and illegal trips abroad, involving multiple flights and dangerous treks through South American jungles, to reach the U.S. border.
This trend speaks to the despair facing Indians in the world’s largest democracy, and stands in stark contrast to the strong and resilient image that Prime Minister Modi seeks to project on the world stage.
Although many were quick to embrace the Kochibli Janta Party, the backlash has not gone unnoticed.
On Thursday, the Gokiri Janta Party’s X handle was made inaccessible in India, with the platform citing “legal demands”.
CNN has requested a response from India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Company X.
Minutes after being removed, the party appeared under a new handle. “The cockroaches are back.”
She posted an image of an insect standing on a podium, waving its long, pointy arms in defiant fists, with the caption: “You thought you could kick us out? lol.”
