Until about a month ago, who would have expected India to be taken over by cockroaches, causing unrest in the capital and bringing the country to its knees? In just three days, Delhi, a city that is bustling with activity all year round, has nearly come to a standstill. This began on 20 July, when the so-called Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and environmentalist and education reformist Sonam Wangchuk, called for a march towards India’s hallowed Parliament. They demanded accountability from the government over the leaking of examination papers, and the resignation of the country’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. The youth-led protest began in the Jantar Mantar area of the capital, a popular hub for protests, and quickly turned into a massive movement that now threatens to grip the entire nation.
Many have drawn parallels with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, where similar youth-led movements brought about regime change by dethroning the incumbent leadership. In Bangladesh, for instance, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country and seek asylum in India, where she has remained in exile since August 2024. Despite such unnerving events unfolding in India's neighbourhood, the Narendra Modi government has remained unmoved. Instead, despite all its security apparatus, the government has failed to bring the situation under control and has denied giving in to the CJP's demands. All it required to bring the situation under control was to ask Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education, to step down, and that is exactly what should have been done.
The CJP is a satirical, online-born youth movement in India that emerged in May 2026 after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant compared unemployed young people and activists to "cockroaches" and "parasites" during a Supreme Court hearing. Founded by political communications strategist and Boston University student Abhijeet Dipke, the CJP began as an internet joke reclaiming the insult, but within days amassed tens of millions of followers, outpacing the social media presence of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). What started as memes and mock manifestos evolved into a genuine, if contested, vehicle for expressing youth anger over unemployment, corruption, exam-paper leaks, and shrinking space for dissent.
Over subsequent months, the movement moved offline into community clean-up drives, protests, a hunger strike, and eventually a mass march on Parliament that was met with tear gas, baton charges, and mass arrests, injuring roughly 150 protesters and 118 police officers. Along the way, the CJP became entangled with legal challenges over an internet block, unverified claims about foreign (Pakistani) or diaspora funding, an offer of money from a banned Khalistani group, and starkly divergent characterizations by government ministers and opposition politicians.
Cockroach, as an insect, is known for its ability for survive under any circumstances thereby showcasing resilience. But what the government has missed here is the fact that cockroaches also have a mosaic vision - a type of sight seen in animals with compound eyes, like insects and crabs, where a final image is made up of many small pieces put together. And that is what is happening to India’s external image with current spate of protests, in which the government seemed to have given a free hand to the police to deal with the ongoing protests in a violent manner. A failure of the country’s intelligence apparatus can also not be ruled out here. When there is disturbance taking place in the country’s immediate neighbourhood, it will have a spillover effect.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first ever statement on the current imbroglio Thursday said that the government will set up “fast-track courts” that will “ensure swift and stringent punishment for those involved in paper leaks.” However, he did not mention what action will be taken against the education minister, whose stepping down remains one of the primary demands of the youth.
All these is happening at a time when many in India were gleefully watching a series of protests being taking place over a number of issues in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). China has already taken a jibe on India highlighting the China highlighted the smooth conduct of its national college entrance exam, the Gaokao, contrasting it with India's NEET-UG paper leak controversy. In June, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Yu Jing pointed out that China managed a seamless test for nearly 1.3 crore students with total nationwide support.
Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, called the violence that was carried out by the Police, which resorted to tear gas shelling and pellet guns, “appalling”. Corbyn has also labelled the protests as “youth-led civil disobedience movement in India.”
“Tear gas and batons. Suspended metro services and mobile internet. Reported unnecessary and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters. Demonstrators in India were marching towards parliament to demand the resignation of a Union education minister following alleged examination paper leaks that affected millions of students. The Delhi Police responded with violent crackdowns. Indian authorities must ensure that all allegations of unlawful conduct against these Cockroach Party-led protests are promptly, independently, and impartially investigated,” said the Amnesty International.
The government still has time to turn this crisis into an opportunity. The first step towards quelling the unrest would be to ask Pradhan to resign, after which the government should take immediate steps to overhaul the country’s education system before the international community starts to take notice. Countries such as the UK and Australia are now planning to set up shop here. However, if the education system is failing, the future is bleak. The country's reputation will suffer irreparable damage on the global stage. The protests may be quelled and the protesters may go home, but millions of Indian families will suffer, as education is their route to dignity.
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