Youth-led 'Cockroach' movement gains traction across India

A youth-led protest movement that calls itself the "Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)" is beginning to find supporters beyond the Indian capital, after tens of thousands of young demonstrators marched on Parliament in New Delhi early this week.

The youth led Cockroach movement began in May after Indian Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant publicly referred to unemployed young people as "cockroaches" in an offhand remark during an unrelated court hearing.

Young people embraced the moniker, which has become a banner for young people's anger over what they see as failings in the country's education system and its massive youth unemployment problem.

The protests are putting public pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

And solidarity protests have sprung up beyond New Delhi across India as support for the campaign continues to grow.

BJP takes notice

Frustrations began to mount during a campaign calling for accountability over a scandal involving a highly competitive university entrance exam. The news that the question sheet had been leaked ahead of the exam date in early May exposed long-running grievances over privileged access for some students.

Fueled by millions of young followers on social media, the movement soon tapped into wider frustrations over unemployment, shrinking opportunities and an education system many young Indians believe has failed them.

Until recently, however, many in the ruling BJP dismissed the Cockroach movement as little more than a social media phenomenon.

That changed after activist Sonam Wangchuk staged a three-week hunger strike, and police launched a crackdown in response to this week's march to India's parliament.

Images of tear gas, baton charges and injured students spread rapidly online, prompting solidarity rallies across India and forcing the government onto the political defensive.

Among other things, protesters are demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down.

In a response on X, Pradhan promised "answers, reforms and accountability."

India's main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, said on Wednesday that he backed the students' demands, including Pradhan's resignation and an apology to students from Modi.

'Cockroaches' draw national attention

While Delhi remains the nerve center of the movement, rallies and marches have been staged in several other states.

Anjali Bhardwaj, a social activist and transparency campaigner, said the movement was no longer confined to the capital.

Bhardwaj told DW that "the contagion has spread even to remote areas of central Chhattisgarh," a rural state in central India. "The anger is palpable. It has tapped into the frustration and disillusionment of young people who are demanding accountability."

The western state of Maharashtra has emerged as the movement's strongest base outside of Delhi. In the city of Pune, thousands gathered at Savitribai Phule Pune University in June, where CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke unveiled the movement's education manifesto.

In the finance hub of Mumbai, Maharashtra's biggest city, police issued restrictions on public gatherings until August 6 after solidarity demonstrations in support of the CJP.

Authorities there also opened eight criminal cases involving around 900 protesters, citing intelligence reports that warned of possible violence and threats to public order. Security was also reinforced across the city to deter further protests.

"If we walk away now after everything we've endured, it will all have been for nothing," Manthan, the CJP's Maharashtra coordinator, told DW.

The movement's supporters have also begun organizing demonstrations in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Dimapur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Jammu and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Farmers' groups side with CJP

In several states, support appears to be driven by students, local activists and civil society groups rather than formal structures run from the center.

"The issues raised by the CJP cannot be dismissed. Examination paper leaks, corruption and unemployment are genuine concerns for young people, and it is natural that students are identifying with the movement," M Sivaprasad, Kerala state president of the Students' Federation of India, told DW.

The movement has also won support from sections of India's farmers' organizations.

"The students and the youth are also the children of farmers and the future of India. SKM firmly believes that the struggles of students and youth are the struggle of farmers," leaders associated with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which led the large-scale protests that succeeded in overturning a series of controversial farming legislation, wrote in a statement.

However, BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan dismissed suggestions that the movement could quickly develop into a nationwide political force, arguing that it faces significant structural obstacles outside the capital.

"The CJP has to bridge India's urban rural divide and overcome language barriers before it can claim to be a national movement," Vadakkan told DW.

"I also don't think the name 'Cockroach' is acceptable in civil society. It may generate attention in Delhi, but I don't see it gaining traction across the states," he said.

Can the movement sustain its momentum?

Political scientist Gilles Verniers from the Paris-based public research university Sciences Po, believes the movement has the potential to spread beyond Delhi because its demands resonate with a much wider audience than those directly affected by examination paper leaks.

"In the face of escalating state repression, the Cockroach movement is likely to expand and spread to other cities," Verniers told DW.

"Its demands are simple enough to mobilize supporters without centralized leadership or coordination. They are also broadly nonpartisan, focusing on the fairness of public institutions and government accountability rather than partisan politics," he added.

Verniers said the movement had the potential to draw in activists and civil society groups that have had few opportunities for sustained public protest since the anti-citizenship law demonstrations of 2019.

Media and political commentator Pamela Philipose believes the movement has already crossed an important threshold.

"It has already built support across the country, judging by the resurgence of youth-led protests in cities across India," she told DW. "That points to a commonality of concerns among young people. By responding with callousness and brutality, the government is inadvertently creating unity among disparate groups that might otherwise have taken years of activism to come together."

The challenge facing the CJP has moved beyond attracting attention towards converting solidarity into sustained organization.

Many protest movements in India have drawn national attention before fading once the immediate trigger passed.

Whether the Cockroach movement follows that pattern or develops into a broader nationwide campaign will depend on its ability to build local leadership, sustain mobilization and convince young people outside Delhi that it speaks to their own aspirations as much as those of students in the capital.