You’ve heard of China’s “rat people,” now get ready for India’s “cockroaches.”
On Saturday, hundreds of young Indians swarmed the country’s capital, New Delhi. Many wore masks depicting cockroach faces in support of a satirical movement called the “Cockroach Janta Party.”
The word “janta” means “people” in Hindi, and the CJP is a play on the name of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The movement is a protest against high youth unemployment in the subcontinent, corruption in the government, and failures of the education ministry.
The term “cockroach” was inadvertently coined during a May Supreme Court hearing by India’s chief justice, Surya Kant, who compared young people to unemployed “cockroaches” and “parasites.” He has since clarified that he was referring to people with bogus degrees, not the youth broadly.
Following these comments, an Indian based in the US, Abhijeet Dipke, posted on his X account, “What if all cockroaches come together?”
Dipke went on to launch the CJP, calling for Indians who are “unemployed, lazy, chronically online,” and “have the ability to rant professionally” to join the movement. Its website reads, “Voice of the lazy and unemployed,” and “a political party for the people the system forgot to count.”
The group’s official Instagram now has 22.7 million followers as of press time, surpassing the ruling party BJP’s account. CJP’s X account, which Dipke said was disabled for a period, has nearly 300,000 followers.
The CJP’s formation comes as India is battling a high youth unemployment rate. According to March statistics from the Indian Press Information Bureau, India’s total unemployment rate in 2025 for people between 15 and 29 stood at 9.9%, with urban youth facing a higher rate of 13.6%. Millions of highly qualified young workers in the country are battling for a smattering of job openings.
CJP’s Saturday protest in New Delhi was aimed directly at sacking India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, who many hold responsible for the recent scandal involving India’s medical school entrance test, “NEET.” The exam, taken by millions of medical student hopefuls, was deemed invalid after the exam questions were leaked.
The group gave humorous, witty instructions for participants joining the protest on Saturday, including “Eat before you arrive. Revolution requires breakfast,” and “The movement is stronger when cockroaches arrive in groups.”
While other Gen Z-led protests have taken place in India in recent years, over issues such as unemployment and poorly managed entrance examinations, none have achieved the virality and social media presence of the CJP.
The cockroach trend brings to mind other Gen Z- and millennial-led protests that have erupted across South Asia in recent years, including Bangladesh and Nepal.
In contrast, China’s “rat people” trend of 2025 was characterized by a passive, quiet resignation of the country’s youth. Burned out by China’s grueling “996” work culture, high unemployment, and low wages, young Chinese people started documenting their days spent lounging at home, scrolling on the internet, and eating takeout.
Representatives for the Cockroach Janta Party did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
