New Delhi, India – Abhijeet Dubke has barely slept in the last 72 hours, after an unexpected turn of an accidental joke led to a flood of messages on social media.
The 30-year-old, a recent public relations graduate from Boston University in the United States, finds himself leading a massive satirical political movement – the so-called Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), where “janata” in Hindi means people – with thousands of people joining online with each passing day.
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On Friday, the Chief Justice of India’s Supreme Court, Surya Kant, said during an open court hearing that “parasites” were attacking the system, equating “those who find no employment and have no place in any profession” to cockroaches.
“There are youth like cockroaches, who neither get any employment nor have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone,” he said.
Kant later clarified his remarks, saying that his remarks were related to some people obtaining fake degrees and did not target India’s youth, whom he called “the pillars of developed India”.
Still, his comments angered mainly Gen Z internet users, as they grapple with rampant unemployment, inflation and bitter religious divisions after 12 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.
As outrage grew on social media, Dipke posted on X on Saturday: “What would happen if all the cockroaches came together?”
He continued his joke and the extremely frustrated emotions behind it by setting up a website and social media accounts on Instagram and X for the Cockroach Janata Party – a play on Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“People in power think citizens are cockroaches and parasites,” Dipke told Al Jazeera from Chicago, US, on Tuesday. “They should know that cockroaches thrive in rotten places. That’s what India is like today.”
‘Like a breath of fresh air’
CJP’s Instagram account has gained 11.1 million followers in three days and more than 350,000 people have signed up for party membership through a Google Form. In contrast, BJP, which is said to be the world’s largest party, has 8.8 million followers on Instagram.
Those who have signed up include political stalwarts, including opposition MP Mahua Moitra from West Bengal state and Kirti Azad, a former MP from neighboring Bihar state.
Ashish Joshi, a bureaucrat who retired from federal service earlier this year, was one of the first to sign up for the party after reading about it on social media.
“In the last decade, there has been a lot of fear in the country. And people are afraid to speak out,” Joshi told Al Jazeera, reflecting on the Indian government’s crackdown on dissent. “India has become so disgusting that the cockroach Janata Party is like a breath of fresh air.”
There’s a flip side to comparing youth to cockroaches, Joshi, 60, insists: “Cockroaches are resilient insects; they survive. And apparently they can have a party and crawl on your system.”
‘Deep-rooted opposition’
In recent years, South Asia has been the base for historic Gen Z protests that have toppled governments in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
India, the world’s most populous country, is facing burning issues of its own. While its economy has ballooned, income inequality, along with unemployment and a high cost of living, have reached historic highs.
While India produces more than eight million graduates every year, the unemployment rate among them is 29.1 percent, nine times higher than those who never went to school. More than a quarter of India’s population is Gen Z – which is also the largest group in the world.
Therefore, the words of Chief Justice Kant hurt deeply.
His comments come a week after the exam paper leak saw nationwide protests by young students, leading to the cancellation of the government-run medical entrance exam.
Prashant Bhushan, a prominent Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist, told Al Jazeera, “The Chief Justice’s comments reflect a deep prejudice and dislike towards activists and youth generally.”
“This present government also has the same mentality.”
Referring to Indian billionaires considered close to Modi, Bhushan said he has long felt that India needs a youth rebellion as its “economy and society are being ruined for the benefit of crony capitalists like Ambani and Adani”.
The outrage over Kant’s comments also coincides with a tough week for Indian diplomats, who are facing scrutiny from the Norwegian press after Modi dodged questions from journalists during his visit to the European country.
Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has not answered questions at any press conference, instead relying on carefully managed interviews by journalists sympathetic to the BJP.
Bhushan said, “Some people connect with satire, as in the case of Cockroach Janata Party, because it is funny, while others connect because they are disappointed.” “Finally, people are asking questions and demanding accountability.”
He said that he too would have joined the party, but given the circumstances, he is ineligible.
Cockroach inside Janata Party
Dipke’s satire party has a four-point eligibility criteria: unemployed, lazy, online for long periods of time, and people who can boast professionally.
Its motto on the X is: “A political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth. Secular – Socialist – Democratic – Lazy.”
On Instagram, the party identifies itself as “the union of lazy, unemployed cockroaches”, calling on Gen Z allies to join.
The CJP’s manifesto is a sharp commentary against the Modi government on allegations of voter manipulation, a largely submissive corporate media and the issues of appointment of judges to government posts after their retirement.
Dipke said he built his party online within 24 hours of first posting about it, taking advantage of the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT to design its format and manifesto. Their initiative is in line with a long tradition of global countercultural political movements that use satire, absurdity, and performance to challenge mainstream politics.
Meghnad S, a YouTuber who hosted DeepK for a stream on the newly launched party, told Al Jazeera that “the joke has taken on a life of its own”, and he has been inundated with text messages from Gen Z users asking for directions on how to take the movement forward.
“There is a strong sense that people are looking for alternative political structures, not necessarily political parties, but political experiments that are not traditional,” Meghnad told Al Jazeera.
He said, “The Cockroach Janata Party is a cartoonish, non-existent party, yet people believe it is a better alternative to reality.” “It’s a big commentary on Indian political parties in general.”
Meghnad said he signed up for the party because he “thought it was fun”.
He added, “But, at a much deeper level, I too am experiencing the same frustration that this prank party has spawned.”
As things stand, what started as a joke may no longer be one for Dipke, who has been a one-man show in his party so far.
He said he is not losing sleep to maintain momentum as he organizes social media campaigns on ongoing political issues.
“People have been quiet in India for too long,” he said. “There is a responsibility to seize this moment and laugh it off.”
