India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement camps out until education minister resigns

New Delhi, India — Supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party, a Gen Z political movement born out of a joke and despair, have camped in the Indian capital to demand the resignation of the education minister, defying police orders. The June summer heat is sweltering in New Delhi, where dozens of protesters slept overnight on roads and pavements, with more people joining on the second day amid a heavy police presence. Abhijeet Dipke – the viral movement’s leader , who recently graduated from Boston University in the United States – returned to India earlier this month to escalate the protests from online to the streets, addressing the simmering anger among Indian youth. More than half of India’s 1.4 billion population is under 25. Frequent leaks of exam papers and discrepancies in exam scores have caused widespread outrage among young people already stressed by the pressures of studying and seeking jobs. Dipke’s Cockroach Janta Party (Cockroach People’s Party, or CJP) has been channeling that anger and frustration, demanding that the federal education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resign. Until recently, it was all jokes and digs on social media. In May, the Indian chief justice’s comments equating the youth with cockroaches drew widespread ire. …