Cockroach

Leaders of the movement say they will continue campaigning but will not stage another march through New Delhi.

Leaders of India’s “cockroach movement” say they will continue to protest against the government but will refrain from further rallies through the streets of New Delhi because of concerns about the safety of their supporters after a violent police response when more than 10,000 people tried to march to parliament.

“We will not march again because the police will hurt the youth again,” Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke said at a news conference on Tuesday.

He said 150 protesters were wounded by police who fired tear gas and beat activists with canes and batons during Monday’s march.

The movement will continue to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who it said must be held accountable for flaws in the education system.

The movement emerged after a leak of exam papers that forced 2.2 million aspiring doctors to retake their exams, reportedly contributing to at least 12 students dying by suicide. The CJP is calling for compensation of 10 million rupees ($104,000) for each family of the students who took their own lives after the leak.

“We won’t stop. Pradhan has to be sacked,” the CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka said.

⁠Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and his ⁠sister Priyanka along with members ⁠of their Indian National Congress party, staged a protest outside Prime Minister Narendra ‌Modi’s house, videos shared by the party showed on Tuesday.

“We have marched to PM ⁠Modi’s house to ⁠demand answers from him for the brutalities against ⁠young students yesterday,” ⁠Rahul Gandhi posted ⁠on X.

The rights group Amnesty International said in a statement late on Monday that the police action showed “how peaceful dissent is being suppressed in India.”

“They beat us black and blue, and they damaged our protest site,” Sahil Singh, a protester from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told the Reuters news agency. “We want accountability to be set with Pradhan’s resignation.”

The number of protesters who marched on Monday was larger than expected, partly due to widespread anger after veteran 59-year-old activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on hunger strike for three weeks in solidarity with the CJP, was seized by police and hospitalised against his will.

The Delhi ⁠High ⁠Court ruled on Tuesday that Wangchuk could be moved ⁠from a government hospital to a private healthcare facility after his ⁠wife petitioned the court, alleging he was being held in “illegal detention”, the legal news website Bar and Bench ‌said.

About 200 protesters gathered at the CJP protest site at Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi on Tuesday morning, chanting slogans under a monsoon drizzle.

Paramilitary personnel continued to patrol central parts of India’s capital, and barricades were restricting traffic.

Delhi police said nearly 180 people – 60 protesters and 118 security and police personnel – were injured in Monday’s clashes. Police also said 70 protesters were detained and legal action would be initiated against them.

Multiple videos of Monday’s clashes show police attacking protesters, but no footage has emerged of any violence by the marchers.

The CJP and its supporters remain hopeful that they may change the status quo. A representative said on Monday that a federal minister had promised the government would consider their demands.

On Tuesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said: “I think when the talks are going on in a right direction, the atmosphere should not be vitiated.”

The CJP’s campaign initially began online with viral satirical memes mocking the government, and it quickly amassed millions of followers on social media. It has since morphed into a movement able to mobilise thousands on the streets, as Monday’s march demonstrated.

After the chief justice of India’s Supreme Court likened some unemployed young people to “cockroaches”, the protesters adopted the insult as the name of their movement.

Chaos erupted outside India’s parliament as thousands attempted to storm the building, amid growing protests challenging Modi’s government. The ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ began as a satirical online movement. Now it’s become something far bigger.

Al Jazeera’s @avawarrinerr explains.

Police used batons and tear gas to disperse protesters as tens of thousands of people joined the Cockroach Janta Party’s march on parliament in New Delhi. Protesters have been demanding the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following exam scandals that have triggered nationwide outrage.

A protest by India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has intensified after activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly moved to a hospital on the 21st day of his hunger strike. Party founder Abhijeet Dipke was splashed with ink after beginning a fast in solidarity.

At New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, India’s most famous protest strip, hundreds of mostly young people in cockroach masks and with dog-eared exam guides in hand tried to turn an online joke into a real-world force.

They call themselves the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) – a satirical “people’s party” born barely three weeks ago after India’s chief justice reportedly likened government critics and unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites”.

What began as a parody account and meme factory has since exploded into a channel for anger over exams, jobs and a fraying sense of economic promise.

On Saturday, that digital discontent stepped off the screen. Waving India’s national flag and clutching schoolbooks, the protesters demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after a string of exam paper leaks, technical glitches and cancelled tests.

For many, the fiasco over the NEET medical entrance exam – and reports of student suicides – symbolises a system young Indians say has no credibility left.

The CJP’s founder, 30-year-old political strategist and Boston University graduate Abhijeet Dipke, flew in from the United States to lead the rally, telling supporters that “cockroaches don’t ever fear.”

Police in riot gear and steel barricades underscored the risks of dissent in an era when large protests have often been met with crackdowns and criminal cases.

With more than 20 million followers on Instagram, CJP has already outgrown many mainstream parties online.

Its first street protest now tests whether self-deprecating memes and satire can be converted into a lasting organisation – and whether India’s anxious, hyper-connected youth can find a new political language for their frustration.

CJP organisers rally supporters to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Hundreds of supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (Cockroach People’s Party, or CJP), a satirical social media movement in India, have gathered in New Delhi after weeks of grabbing news headlines.

The party, a play on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has attracted millions of online followers and widespread support among young Indians.

On Saturday, hundreds gathered in New Delhi’s protest zone near parliament, with some participants wearing cockroach masks.

Last month, India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant likened young people who criticised the government to “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a court hearing.

Kant later said his comments were taken out of context. But Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party.

Within a week of launching a website and social media accounts, CJP’s Instagram page soared and by Saturday had amassed more than 22.2 million followers, with the slogan: “A political front for the youth, by the youth, for the youth.”

For Saturday’s march, CJP organisers rallied supporters to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, after an exam irregularity controversy in May that quickly transformed into frustration over India’s education system and limited job opportunities.

CJP supporters chanted slogans including: “Cockroaches are coming, Dharmendra Pradhan is going!”

Organisers of the march encouraged participants to bring India’s national flag and a book, which they said symbolised the right to education and equal opportunity for all. They also urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and avoid any confrontations with police.

Ahead of the protest, Indian police tightened security at the airport and the Jantar Mantar protest site, setting up steel barricades at key points.

The group’s rise echoes a similar trend across South Asia, where youth movements born out of social media have been crucial in antigovernment protests, particularly in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

With the cockroach now a symbol of endurance, CJP supporters have jokingly described themselves as unemployed and perpetually online.

While young people in India make up more than a quarter of the population, they face limited job opportunities, leading to rising unemployment and growing disillusionment with traditional politics.

Some supporters of Modi’s party have dismissed the CJP as nothing more than a social media gimmick. They argue that the parody party’s social media success might not translate into political street mobilisation and that its rapid rise will likely be fleeting.

A satirical political movement called the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ has gone viral in India after Chief Justice Surya Kant compared unemployed youth to “cockroaches”. The movement taps into growing frustration over unemployment, inflation and living costs under Narendra Modi’s government, gaining more than 22 million Instagram followers in just six days.