Published On 11/6/2026
The popular Cockroach Party of India launched a nationwide protest campaign on Thursday, with hundreds of students and young supporters gathering in a city 120 kilometers southeast of Mumbai, in the latest show of strength by the youth movement in the face of Narendra Modi’s government.
The rally at Savitribai Phule University, Pune, came after the party’s first major public protest in New Delhi last week. The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over allegations of examination irregularities and repeated leaking of questions.
Party founder Abhijit Debaki, a political communications expert and student at Boston University, spoke to supporters, saying: “Today marks the beginning of a broader national campaign,” announcing plans to hold protests in other cities, and saying that supporters “will return to New Delhi later this month if the education minister does not resign.”
“The government cannot ignore the youth,” Debke, who recently returned from the United States to lead the campaign, told reporters.
Concerns of marginalized people
The movement emerged in May after statements by a Supreme Court judge, in which he compared some unemployed youth to “cockroaches,” sparked a wave of anger.
Supporters of the movement adopted the term as a symbol of resilience, helping the group amass more than 22 million followers on Instagram.
Since then, the movement’s message has expanded to include concerns about unemployment, rising costs of living, and government accountability. The Unemployed Youth (CJP) movement mixes satirical humor with political criticism.
The movement’s supporters jokingly call themselves “unemployed” and “always online,” while videos and photos satirizing unemployment, corruption and political dysfunction have garnered millions of views. Many CJP satirical accounts have also taken the cockroach as a satirical political symbol.
