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The largest online expression of dissent against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 12-year rule began with a satirical riposte to a jibe about young people, triggering death threats to its founder and pushback from ruling party politicians.
The rapid fame of 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke and his Cockroach Janta Party, which says it represents “the lazy, the unemployed, and the chronically correct”, is driven by the concerns of the young in a country where those below 30 are estimated to number more than half a population of 1.42 billion.
Political analysts say the group’s enormous popularity has begun to dent Modi’s image, despite his party’s recent victories in key state elections, even as wider frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages brought by the Iran war.
“If all was well with the country and the economy, 20 million young people would not rally around something like this,” said political activist Yogendra Yadav, who was a top leader of a national movement against corruption in 2011.
