How India’s ‘cockroach’ party sparked a protest movement | Global News Podcast
Thousands of young Indians have marched through the streets of Delhi, in a protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party – a new, fast-growing political movement. CJP has been holding demonstrations calling for education reforms, after a scandal involving the leak of medical school entrance exams.
The cockroach party was started this year as a piece of online satire, by recent graduate Abhijeet Dipke. It was a response to comments by Indian Chief Justice Surya Kant, who allegedly compared unemployed youth to cockroaches and parasites. He later said he was referring only to people with “fake and bogus degrees”. But Mr Dipke’s CJP has now gained millions of followers – many of them young people frustrated by a lack of economic opportunity.
We ask the BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan how great a challenge the Cockroach Janta Party could pose to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP. Plus, we’ll find out how the ‘cockroach’ movement fits into the broader trend of “Gen Z” protests in Nepal, Bangladehs, and Sri Lanka.
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00:00 Introduction
00:22 How the Cockroach Janta Party began
01:35 India’s education reform protests
02:52 Why young Indians are feeling frustrated
04:49 Will the Cockroach movement challenge Narendra Modi?
06:13 Gen Z protests across South Asia
