On Saturday, June 6, thousands of young Indians gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi wearing paper cockroach masks. They demanded the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, India's Education Minister. The movement calls itself the Cockroach Janata Party, a name reclaiming an insult from India's Chief Justice, Surya Kant, who had compared young critics to cockroaches during a court hearing. Rather than accept the insult, India's youth embraced it.
The movement was founded by Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old Boston University graduate who returned to India in May 2026 to lead this unexpected political phenomenon. Within weeks, the Cockroach Janata Party's Instagram account gained more than 22 million followers, exceeding even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party's online following.
Young Indians are angry about serious issues in their education system. The NEET medical entrance exam results were cancelled after the question paper was leaked, affecting roughly two million students. The Central Board of Secondary Education also faced complaints about marking errors. For students who study for years for a single test, such failures can change their entire future.
India's youth are a powerful force. The country has 1.4 billion people, with about half under 25 years old. These young people have only known the BJP government, in power since 2014. On protest day, engineer and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, 59, joined the crowd, bridging generations of dissent. Although six people were detained and the education minister did not resign, the movement showed that young Indians refuse to be silenced.