New Delhi, India. The founder of the online youth group Cockroach Janta Party said on Monday he plans to take the movement onto the streets with a protest against the education minister and as a show of dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rapid online growth
The group has attracted millions of followers in days by tapping into concerns among people under 30, who make up more than half of India’s 1.42 billion population, over politics, unemployment and inflation. Founder Abhijeet Dipke, who is based in the United States, has focused on recent leaks of exam papers and errors in marking final-year school exams that he says threaten the careers of millions of students.
Call for resignation
“I will be returning to India to demand the resignation of the education minister,” Dipke said on his personal account on X, urging young people to join a peaceful protest in Delhi and “exercise our constitutional right to seek accountability from the government.”
He said nearly 800,000 students have signed a petition seeking Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The minister and a government spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Criticism of government
The CJP’s rise marks one of the largest online expressions of dissent against Modi’s 12-year rule, and analysts say it could damage his image despite recent state election victories, as frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages linked to the Iran war.
The party’s name refers to comments by India’s top judge, Chief Justice Surya Kant of the Supreme Court, who compared some unemployed youth to cockroaches. Kant later said he did not mean to criticise young people but was referring to those with “fake and bogus degrees”. The party has more than 22 million followers on Instagram.
Dipke fears arrest
Dipke, who has lived in the United States for the past two years, said his family and friends were worried he could be arrested on his return. “How long can we live in fear?” he said.
The government has blocked the CJP’s X account, and Dipke told Reuters he had to regain control of the party’s Instagram page from unknown hackers.
Senior cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju has accused the CJP of seeking social media followers from arch-enemy Pakistan and the “anti-India gang”, while Modi has yet to comment.