NEW DELHI: Supporters of India’s viral cockroach-themed youth movement staged their first protest in New Delhi on Saturday, after gaining massive online support among young Indians and weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines.
The Cockroach Janta Party, an online movement that started out as a satirical joke, has amassed more than 22 million followers across India in less than a month and turned into an outlet for discontent among young people who are proudly calling themselves “cockroaches.”
The party, whose name is a play on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, gained momentum right after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant likened critics and some unemployed youth to cockroaches during a court hearing in mid-May.
Though Kant later said his comments were taken out of context, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party, drawing support from young people frustrated by a lack of jobs and a string of controversies in the education system.
On Saturday, the viral online movement took its first offline shape at the Jantar Mantar protest site, where hundreds gathered to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following recurring leaks of examination papers that threaten to derail the careers of millions of students.
