Thousands of youth protested in India on Saturday, calling for the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) organised the protest in response to a perceived failure of the education ministry to handle the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) controversy.
On Sunday, organisers posted a video on X, making reference to the recent Gen Z protests which toppled the government in neighbouring Nepal around the world. The organisers warn that this was the first demonstration, and that protests will continue if “those responsible for jeopardising our futures don’t face any accountability.” The CJP on Sunday called for renewed protests if their demand for the resignation of the education minister is not met within the next 7 days.
The CJP advertises itself as the “voice of the lazy and unemployed”, appealing to youth in India who have felt left behind and their economic concerns invalidated. The CJP have a short manifesto with five demands related to corruption, election transparency, and women’s representation in the legislature. The party’s name is a play on words of the name of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The movement started after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant made an oral comment during a Supreme Court hearing, referring to unemployed youth as “cockroaches”, and has amassed over 20 million followers on Instagram, more than the ruling BJP.
Abhijeet Dipke founded the movement on May 16th after the comments by the Chief Justice. He has lived in the United States for the past two years and returned for the first time Saturday to attend the protest. Leaving the airport, he was filmed holding the Indian Constitution, saying that the “Education minister must resign! Five students have committed suicide!”. At the rally, Dipke spoke, saying that the governing party has kept Indians trapped in divisive Hindu-Muslim politics for the last 10-12 years. He asked, “Did Hindu-Muslim politics get jobs for anyone in the country?”
The CJP was founded after the results of the May 3rd NEET exam were cancelled after the test had been administered. The results were cancelled because a sample exam had circulated before May 3rd, including 410 questions, including 120 which were identical to those on the NEET exam. In the wake of needing to retake the examination, multiple students have died by suicide, something the CJP has used to rally people behind their movement.
The fast-growing party has faced opposition from the state, including a ban on their original X account from India. Dipke brought a motion in the Delhi High Court on May 25th to challenge the blocking of the CJP’s X account.