It began as an online satirical project but within days India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has amassed millions of young supporters.
Young people have gravitated to the parody political party to express their frustration with politics, with some appearing at protests dressed as cockroaches.
The CJP launched its website and social media accounts on Saturday, according to the Associated Press, after remarks by India’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant.
He criticised “parasites” attacking institutions and compared some unemployed young people and activists to cockroaches.
“There are youngsters like cockroaches who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession,” he said during a hearing last week.
The chief justice later clarified that he was referring to people obtaining fraudulent degrees and that he did not intend to insult India’s youth.
But the comments quickly triggered backlash among young Indians grappling with unemployment, rising living costs and recent government exam paper leaks that have disrupted job recruitment drives.
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The controversy led to the launch of the Cockroach Janta Party on social media.
The name parodies Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power since 2014.
CJP began posting memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary about corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction.
Within days it had almost 19 million followers on social media, outstripping the BJP.
“Nothing of this was intentional,” the movement’s founder Abhijeet Dipke told the Associated Press.
Mr Dipke, a political communications strategist and student at Boston University, used to work for the Aam Aadmi Party.
“It is the younger people, who were actually very frustrated,” he said.
“They didn’t have any outlet. They were really angry at the government.“
Fear of speaking out
University of Sussex Institute of Development Studies researcher Niranjan Nampoothiri said many young people in India were scared to vent their frustration publicly.
The Cockroach Janta Party’s website. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
“There are young people who are really happy with what’s happening and there are others that are incredibly upset and do not like the path that India is going down,” he told the ABC.
“People are worried about actually publicly complaining about the policies or the government.
“We have found that people’s friendships have ended over political disagreements … and, in some cases … it goes beyond just political disagreements and it becomes some kind of political violence.”
Mr Nampoothiri said it was clear there was support for the CJP, but it was difficult to tell how many of the followers were real or what their political motives or allegiances were.
He said some young people believed the CJP could “bring about some much-needed change”, but others were sceptical about taking a “non-serious approach to political challenges”.
The rapid surge in followers has made politicians take notice, with a number taking to social media to comment on the movement.
On Thursday, the CJP wrote on X that its account on the platform, which had about 200,000 followers, had been withheld in India.
Minutes later, Mr Dipke announced a new account for the group, alongside a poster reading “Cockroach is back”.
The post added: “You thought you can get rid of us? Lol.”
Mr Nampoothiri said it was very common for politically-active people in India to face “backlash”.
ABC/AP