On
16th May 2026, a post appeared on Instagram: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). It even presented a 5-point
manifesto covering issues such as women’s reservation, anti-defection, judicial
ethics, media accountability and electoral integrity.
This satirical online creation by 30-year-old
Abhijeet Dipke, a public relations student in Boston, USA, and a former social
media participant of the AAP, made history of sorts: Within a week of its
posting, it acquired 20 million followers on Instagram.
Since then, AI-generated images of cockroaches,
either raising their hairy fists in protest or in suits appearing more like
modern-day politicians, swarmed social media.
Indeed, it appeared to have struck a chord with the young (below 35) of India,
which constitutes around 65% of the population.
A 2023 survey reveals that 67% of India’s
unemployed youth are graduates. And these are perhaps the least likely to get a
job. Against a global average of 20%, our youngsters, who are neither in
education, employment or training, are said to be around 26%. It is this section of the population that
could not realise the benefit of the so-called demographic dividend that was
caught by this storm.
Fortunately, our youth, unlike the Gen Z
revolutionaries of Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, jokingly dressing up as
cockroaches, came out onto the streets to clean their neighbourhoods – a
positive expression of resentment.
This satirical movement sprang up online in
response to the comments made by the Chief Justice of India. Press reports
indicate that during a Supreme Court hearing on 15th May, the Chief
Justice of India said, “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get
any employment and don’t have any place in profession. Some of them become
media, some of them become social media, some of them become RTI activists,
some of them become other activists, and they start attacking everyone.” It
is also reported that he also called such people “parasites of society who
attack the system.”
Of course, the CJI later clarified that his
remarks were “misquoted” by the media and his remarks were
specifically aimed at people entering professions using fake/bogus
degrees, not all unemployed youth. But by then his remarks triggered widespread
controversy and sharp reactions online.
Incidentally, the words ‘cockroaches’ and
‘parasites’ carry historical baggage: A study, “Dehumanization
and mass violence: A study of mental state language in Nazi propaganda
(1927–1945)”, carried out by Stanford University, the University of
California and Tel Aviv reveals that Hitler and Nazi propagandists used such words
of animals to describe Jews as part of their deliberate propaganda strategy to
deride and dehumanise Jews. This must
have also been one of the reasons for instantaneously stimulating ill feelings among
the youth.
Over it, angered by joblessness, corruption,
NEET paper leaks, growing inequality, etc., the Gen Z kept the movement that
primarily started as a satirical meme campaign alive. In the meantime, the X-
account of CJP was banned on national security grounds. Unwittingly, this perhaps
became the movement’s best advertisement. And, it soon reemerged under the
name, “Cockroach is Back”.
That aside, the CJP movement harbours an
underlying danger: Senior politicians and thinkers from academia can hijack it.
And, with their experience, they can polish the movement’s thinking and even
sharpen its demands. And, we have seen many such movements elsewhere in the
past – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Italy’s Five Star Movement, Spain’s
Podemos, Arab Spring – turning into more threatening over time.
Of course, experts opine that it “may disappear
within months” as internet movements are often seen burning out soon. But it
doesn’t mean that we can afford to forget the fact that it did provide a vent
for the youth’s real frustration.
That being the reality, the government may have
to listen to these voices and, importantly, address the root causes that left
the youth in such deep frustration. Let us hope that it won’t take an ugly
turn.
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