Why young Indians are proud to call themselves cockroaches

“I too am a cockroach.” Over the past weeks, the slogan has spread rapidly across social media in India. What began as a sarcastic response to a judge’s controversial remarks has quickly grown into one of the country’s most unusual political movements, reflecting growing frustration among young people over unemployment, inflation and rising living costs.

The satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), inspired by the insect often regarded as stubborn and nearly indestructible, has amassed more than 22 million Instagram followers in less than a week and has even attracted support from veteran opposition politicians.

The cockroach entered India’s political discourse when Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant referred to some unemployed young people during an open court hearing in May as “like cockroaches” and “parasites of society”. He said: “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI [Right to Information Act] activists and other activists, and they start attacking everyone.”

Although Justice Kant later clarified that his remarks referred to people obtaining fraudulent degrees and were not directed at India’s youth, by then they had already sparked widespread outrage, jokes and memes online.

More than just an internet joke

Among those reacting was 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke, a recent public relations graduate from Boston University in the United States, who posted on X: “What if all cockroaches come together?” The sardonic question quickly snowballed into the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a parody of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Membership was deliberately tongue-in-cheek: applicants simply had to be unemployed, lazy, chronically online and possess the ability to “rant professionally”.

For Dipke, the idea began as a joke. He assumed people might simply gather on one platform. Instead, the CJP collected tens of thousands of sign-ups through a Google Form and inspired the hashtag #MainBhiCockroach (“I too am a cockroach”). As the movement gained visibility, the CJP’s X account was withheld in India. Another one, “Cockroach is Back”, soon appeared online with the tagline: “Cockroaches Don’t Die.”

The joke resonated because it touched a nerve. According to a recent study, almost 40 % of India’s graduates below the age of 25 are unemployed. At the same time, students across the country have endured repeated examination scandals. This year’s medical entrance exam was engulfed in controversy after allegations that question papers had been leaked to the highest bidders, fuelling frustration among more than 2 million students competing for just 130,000 medical college places.

For a generation grappling with these pressures and persistent barriers to employment, the CJP has become more than an internet meme. It has become a vehicle for expressing frustration with institutions many feel have failed to deliver on their promises.

Will the CJP evolve into a sustained political force?

Opposition leaders quickly recognised the mood. Politician and author Shashi Tharoor described the rise of the CJP as “intriguing”, saying it reflected growing frustration among young Indians. Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP), argued that the meme-driven movement showed young people refusing to be trapped in “hatred, division and manufactured politics”.

In June, the CJP faced its first offline test when supporters organised a peaceful protest in New Delhi following Dipke’s return to India. Demonstrators, gathered under heavy police presence, demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities.

Whether the cockroach movement can evolve from a digital phenomenon into a sustained political force remains uncertain. Some viewed the protest as the beginning of a grassroots movement, while others argued that the turnout fell short of expectations compared with the millions voicing support online. Yet for many participants, calling themselves “cockroaches” is no longer just a joke, but a political statement.

Roli Mahajan is a journalist based in Lucknow, India. 
roli.mahajan@gmail.com