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Hitherto confined to social media, the “cockroaches” emerged on the ground at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 6. What started as a joke has turned serious.
Abhijeet Dipke (holding mike), founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, addresses participants in a rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India, June 6, 2026.
Midway into Narendra Modi’s third prime ministerial term, just as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is steadily increasing its strength through winning elections and engineering defections, a new phenomenon has struck it like a bolt from the blue: hints of a Gen Z revolt.
On June 6, thousands of students, youth, parents and activists assembled at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Wearing cockroach masks and carrying placards and flowers they chanted slogans calling for the resignation of Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan. A series of scandals have emerged over question paper leaks in examinations for entrance to universities. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and several leftist student organizations also joined in.
