‘Cockroach Janta party’: Chief justice of India’s comments spark outrage, protests | Political Affairs

New Delhi, India – Abhijeet Dipke hasn’t slept in the last 72 hours, unleashing a flurry of messages on social media after a casual joke took an unexpected turn.

The 30-year-old, who recently graduated from Boston University in the United States, has found himself leading a discredited political group – called the Cockroach Janta Party (“janta” is people in Hindi) – connected online by thousands of people every day.

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On Friday, Chief Justice of India’s Supreme Court, Surya Kant, said in an open court that “parasites” are attacking the system, and he likened the youth to cockroaches “who can’t find a job and have no place to work”.

“There are young people like cockroaches, who do not find any job or any place in the industry. Some become media, some become social media, RTI activists and some freedom fighters, and they start attacking everyone,” he said.

Kant later clarified his comments, saying that his comments were related to some people getting bogus degrees, and did not agree with the Indian youth, whom he called “the pillars of civilized India”.

However, his comments have sparked outrage, especially among Gen Z internet users who are grappling with unemployment, rising prices, and religious divisions after 12 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu government.

As the furor grew on social media, Dipke posted on X on Saturday: “What if all the cockroaches got together?”

He followed his humor – and the frustration behind it – by setting up a website and social media accounts for the Cockroach Janata Party – a parody of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – on Instagram and X.

“Those in power think that citizens are cockroaches and parasites,” Dipke told Al Jazeera on Tuesday from Chicago. They should know that cockroaches breed in rotten places.

‘Like fresh air’

The Cockroach Janta Party’s Instagram account has crossed 3 million followers in three days, and more than 350,000 people have signed up for party membership through the Google form.

Among the signatories are political heavyweights, including Mahua Moitra, an opposition MP from West Bengal state, and Kirti Azad from Bihar, also a former MP.

Ashish Joshi, an Indian civil servant who retired from the federal government earlier this year, was among the first to sign up for the party after reading about it on social media.

Joshi told Al Jazeera: “In the last 10 years, there was a lot of fear in the country and people are afraid to speak.” “India has become so hostile that the Cockroach Janta Festival is like a breath of fresh air.”

Comparing young people to cockroaches, Joshi, 60 years old, insisted: “Cockroaches are resilient insects, they survive.

‘Hate Deepest’

In recent years, South Asia has seen the rise of Gen Z protests, which have brought down governments in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

India, the world’s most populous country, faces its own growing challenges. Despite its booming economy, income inequality, including unemployment and the high cost of living, has reached record highs.

While India produces more than eight million graduates a year, the unemployment rate among them stands at 29.1 percent, seven times higher than that of those who did not go to school. More than a quarter of India’s population is Gen Z – also the largest group in the world.

Therefore, the words of Chief Justice Kant were very emotional.

His comments came in a week that saw international protests by young students over the leak of exam papers, forcing a ban on government-run medical entrance exams.

“The Chief Justice’s statement shows deep prejudice and hatred towards freedom fighters and many young people,” Prashant Bhushan, a prominent Indian Supreme Court lawyer and activist, told Al Jazeera.

“This is also the opinion of the current government.”

Bhushan said he has long felt that India needs a youth upheaval, as its “economy and people are being bled for the benefit of capitalists like Ambani and Adani,” referring to Indian billionaires seen as close to Modi.

The anger in Kant’s comments also coincides with a difficult week for Indian diplomats, who are facing Norwegian media after Modi avoided questions from reporters during his European tour.

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has not taken questions at press conferences, instead relying on moderated interviews with reporters loyal to his BJP party.

“Some people connect with satire – like the Cockroach Janata Party – because it’s funny, while others connect because they’re offended,” Bhushan said. “Finally people are asking questions and they want answers.”

Bhushan said that he would have rejoined the party, but as things stand, he is not eligible.

Inside the Cockroach Janata Party

Dipke’s satirical party has four criteria for eligibility: unemployed, lazy, inactive on the internet, and people who can do it professionally.

His words on X: “The political front of the youth, for the youth, for the youth.” Secular – Socialist – Democratic – Lazy. On Instagram, the party calls itself “an alliance of lazy, useless cockroaches”, inviting Gen Z allies to join them.

And the party’s manifesto is critical of voter fraud against the Modi government, the media’s pro-corporate media, and the appointment of retired judges to public office.

Dipke said he created his online party within 24 hours of posting about it, using AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to create his profile and manifesto. His actions fit into a long tradition of international counter-culture politics that uses irony, absurdity, and performance to challenge mainstream politics.

Meghnad S, a YouTuber who sat with Dipke at the launch party, told Al Jazeera that “the joke has killed itself,” and has been bombarded with messages from Gen Z users, asking for directions.

“There is a strong sense that people are looking for other political groups, not political parties, but non-traditional initiatives,” Meghnad told Al Jazeera.

“The Cockroach Janta Party is a disgraced party, which never existed, yet people believe that it is a better strategy than reality,” he said. “It is the biggest commentary on Indian political parties of all time.”

Meghnad said she signed up for the party because she thought it was “funny.

“But, at a deeper level, I’m experiencing the same frustration that this comedy party was born out of,” he added.

But as things stand, what started as a joke may no longer be for Dipke, a one-man show at his party so far.

He said he is skipping sleep to continue working hard as he prepares for the ongoing political campaign.

“For too long, people have been silent in India,” he said. “There is a responsibility to take this moment and not laugh.”