A viral satirical movement has called for nationwide protests to demand the resignation of India’s education minister over mismanagement of entrance and school-leaving exams.The Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has attracted millions of followers in a matter of days, channelling anger over botched exams and rising unemployment.The CJP, which is not a registered political party, tested the waters earlier this month by drawing hundreds of people to a demonstration in Delhi after weeks of dominating social media and news headlines.It is now launching protests across the country, starting on Thursday in the western city of Pune and expanding to Lucknow, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Hyderabad. The party’s founder, Abhijit Dipke, 30, said an indefinite sit-in demonstration would start in the national capital on 20 June should education minister Dharmendra Pradhan refuse to resign."Dharmendra Pradhan has failed to take responsibility for these repeated failures," the group said in a statement, referring to the botched exams. “Accountability must begin at the top. That’s why we reiterate our demand: Dharmendra Pradhan should resign.” Mr Dipke told reporters on Thursday the protests would be “peaceful and within the framework of the constitution”.“We will not return until we get the resignation of the education minister, who is responsible for jeopardising the future of more than one crore students," he said about the sit-in demonstration.Supporters don cockroach masks as a mock political party for India’s young ‘cockroaches’ stages its first protest (AP)Mr Pradhan has been facing mounting criticism since the national medical entrance test was cancelled last month following the leak of the question paper that affected 2.3 million aspiring doctors.Calls for his resignation grew stronger after the Central Board of Secondary Education admitted flaws in the cybersecurity of its online grading system, impacting thousands of pupils.Last week, the CJP issued an ultimatum, saying either the education minister must resign or prime minister Narendra Modi must remove him. "If no action is taken within seven days, this movement will spread across the country," the group said.Mr Dipke urged parents not to stop their children from speaking out against the “tyranny and wrong policies of the government”.“The people who are in power can muzzle one dissenting voice, but they will not stop if we all start speaking out against the government,” he said. “Unity has power.”He added: “Paper leaks are taking place, servers are going down, and students are suffering. Who will take responsibility for this, and how long will this continue?”The CJP emerged last month and quickly became an unlikely outlet for discontent among young people who proudly came to call themselves “cockroaches". The epithet was a pushback to chief justice Surya Kant likening critics as well as some unemployed youth to cockroaches during a hearing in the Supreme Court of India.Mr Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party. Within a week of launching, CJP's Instagram page had amassed more than 15 million followers.The CJP’s rapid rise is largely being attributed to its resonance with young Indians, who account for more than a quarter of the population but face shrinking job prospects and rising unemployment.Unemployment among Indians aged 15 to 29 stood at 9.9 per cent in 2025, rising to 13.6 per cent in urban areas, according to the Indian government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey.The movement’s rise also reflects a broader trend across South Asia, where youth-led movements born on social media have emerged as powerful forces in anti-government protests in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.