A five-day-old social media group called the Cockroach Janta Party has gone viral in India, amassing nearly 15 million followers on Instagram in less than a week, comfortably surpassing the fewer than nine million followers held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which describes itself as the world’s largest political party. The group, whose logo features the outline of a cockroach on a mobile phone and which calls itself the “Voice of the Lazy and Unemployed,” has channelled a deep well of frustration among India’s younger generation over unemployment, inflation, media independence, and political exclusion, emerging as one of the more striking examples of digital-native political expression to surface in the country in recent years.
The group’s 30-year-old founder, Abhijeet Dipke, told Reuters the Cockroach Janta Party was so named because of comments by Chief Justice Surya Kant last week comparing some unemployed youth to cockroaches, with Kant later clarifying that he was referring to those with fake and bogus degrees rather than criticising young people broadly. Speaking from Boston, where he has been based for the past two years, Dipke said the movement aims to change the political discourse of India, arguing that youth had largely vanished from mainstream political conversation and that nobody was talking about, listening to, or even acknowledging the issues facing young Indians. The Cockroach Janta Party’s Instagram account features graphics and videos covering topics ranging from media independence to gender representation in parliament, and also addressed the recent cancellation of a national medical college entrance test after a paper leak affected approximately 2.3 million students.
The viral moment reflects a much broader and structurally rooted anxiety among India’s young population. A Deloitte Global survey published this week found that India’s Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2007, had been badly affected by a lack of jobs and high prices, with a larger proportion reporting home affordability challenges and financial insecurity compared to other age groups surveyed. Government data shows the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 29 stands at 9.9 percent, including 13.6 percent in urban areas, and experts have warned that the problem could deepen as artificial intelligence disrupts entry-level roles in India’s vast back-office services industry. The survey, which covered 806 respondents in India as part of a wider global study of more than 14,000 participants, also found that 54 percent of Indian Generation Z respondents and 44 percent of Indian millennials have postponed major life decisions such as buying homes due to economic concerns. More than 400,000 people had signed up to become Cockroach Janta Party members through a Google form, with over 70 percent aged between 19 and 25, and Dipke cautioned against comparisons with Generation Z-led street protests in neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal that have ousted governments, saying any action the group took would remain within constitutional and democratic boundaries.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
