India’s Gen Z has had enough. A viral youth movement that began as an online joke has spilled onto the streets of India’s capital, with hundreds of young people demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated exam scandals and a lack of accountability.
The “Cockroach Janata Party”, a satirical political party founded by 30-year-old Boston University graduate Abhijeet Dipke, amassed more than 22 million Instagram followers in a single week. It is double the following of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP party.
The movement staged its first major protest in New Delhi after remarks by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant were widely interpreted as comparing unemployed youth to “cockroaches”.
The comment landed on top of years of festering frustration over exam paper leaks, crippling unemployment, and a political establishment many young Indians say no longer sees them.
Nearly 40% of Indian graduates aged 25 and under are unemployed, according to a recent Azim Premji University report. Millions more have watched their futures narrowed by a high-stakes university entrance exam system riddled with scandal.
“This country belongs not just to one party, but to all of us. Our future is getting ruined,” said Dipke, Al Jazeera reported. A police officer standing at the edge of the crowd said her own daughter was among the protesters. “There comes a time when one needs to get on the streets, no?” she said.
Hundreds turned up, some in cockroach masks, carrying books and roses.
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