The Gen Z protests that previously shook countries neighbouring India, including Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as more distant states such as Morocco and Madagascar, have finally reached India, this time under the banner of the “cockroach”.
The label emerged after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant contemptuously compared unemployed Indian youth inclined towards social activism to cockroaches. Rather than rejecting the insult, many young Indians embraced it, turning the term into the identity of a youth movement expressing frustration over the collapse of India’s education system and the chronic unemployment affecting their generation.
An Indian master’s student at Boston University in the United States, Abhijit Deepke, founded the “Janta Cockroach Party” online, its name deliberately echoing that of the country’s powerful ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
The movement’s online following quickly surpassed that of the ruling party, turning it into a major phenomenon.
Just days before the Chief Justice’s controversial remarks about cockroaches, a major medical admissions examination, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, had been cancelled following a leak of exam questions.
Nearly two million young Indian students sit the examination. Its cancellation intensified already deep frustration, and several suicides were reported.
Deepke returned to India in the first week of June 2026, shortly after launching the Janta Cockroach Party. The movement he created found itself uniquely positioned to channel the anger of large numbers of Indian students.
Their immediate demand was the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, an influential member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
That demand was met, despite ministerial resignations being rare under Modi.
The importance of these Gen Z “cockroach” protests lies in their breadth. They emerged from developments taking place in distant parts of the world, spread first through India’s neighbourhood and then into India itself.
Initially, India’s Gen Z mobilisation remained focused on students’ immediate concerns over examinations. It has since evolved into a broader movement seeking to revive Indian democracy, which has undergone a sharp decline during Modi’s 12 years in power.
Challenging India’s “Godi Media”
The movement has also taken aim at India’s notorious mainstream media, often described as “Godi media”, outlets accused of behaving like obedient dependants of those in power rather than acting as a check on authority.
The Hindi word “godi” means “lap”, a reference to media organisations seen as sitting comfortably in the government’s lap instead of asking the ruling party critical questions.
More importantly, the rebellious nature of India’s Gen Z “cockroach” protests, and their relentless mockery of the carefully constructed public relations image surrounding Modi, have helped erode the fear of openly expressing opposition to the government.
That fear had previously spread across large sections of Indian society, academia and the media.
India’s Gen Z Protests as Part of a Wider Global Movement
The significance of the “cockroach” protests also lies in their connection to a broader international wave of youth activism.
Their development from distant global movements towards India’s neighbouring states and eventually India itself gives them similarities, in this respect, to the 2011 Arab Spring, which demanded greater democracy, and the Occupy Wall Street movement of the same year, which challenged economic inequality.
This ability to connect with wider global concerns gives the “cockroach” protests greater dynamism.
What began as a set of student grievances over examinations has developed into a wider demand for accountability from an unresponsive government, alongside an effort to revive India’s weakening democracy.
The contrast with India’s own 2011 “India Against Corruption” movement is striking.
That campaign emerged during the same year as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, yet remained inward-looking and relatively isolated from the wider concerns driving those movements. It focused obsessively on eliminating corruption.
It also enjoyed the support of India’s major electronic media outlets, many of the same organisations now derided as “Godi media” and targeted by Gen Z protesters for rarely daring to question the Modi government.
Most significantly, the India Against Corruption movement of 2011 played an important role in helping Narendra Modi reach power three years later, in 2014.
The “cockroach” protests, by contrast, may signal the beginning of the end of Modi’s dominance over Indian politics.
Modi’s Years in Power and the Targeting of Muslims
Narendra Modi’s 12 years as prime minister have been marked by intense Islamophobia directed against India’s Muslim population, which exceeds 200 million people.
The Gen Z protesters have denounced and condemned this politics of polarisation and the spread of hatred against Muslims.
In this sense, the movement could represent a welcome beginning to the end of the targeting and marginalisation of Muslims that has been one of the defining features of the Modi years.
Another feature of Modi’s rule has been the strengthening of ties with Israel, particularly in the defence sector.
Modi visited Israel only days before the United States and Israel began their war against Iran on 28 February 2026.
Although the Gen Z “cockroach” protesters have not articulated a clear position on Israel’s actions in Gaza, they belong to a generation that is highly active on social media.
As such, they will inevitably have witnessed through their own devices what the article describes as the world’s first livestreamed genocide, as well as the subsequent silent complicity of their own government.
The India Against Corruption movement of 2011 helped bring Narendra Modi to power three years later. The “cockroach” protests may now be signalling the beginning of the end of his political dominance.
Where Could the “Cockroach” Protests Lead?
Observers in India who sympathised with the Arab Spring, including the author, later watched it descend into what they regarded as an autumn of authoritarianism, recalling German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s words about a “fateful simultaneity of spring and autumn”.
India’s Gen Z protesters therefore have lessons to draw from the Arab Spring, as well as from domestic protest movements such as the campaign led by Muslim women against the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act.
That movement became known as the Shaheen Bagh protest, named after the neighbourhood in south-east Delhi where it began.
The “cockroach” protests have already caused confusion and concern within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS.
While the BJP has attempted to intensify its attacks and discredit the protests, the RSS has launched an outreach programme aimed at engaging with young people’s grievances.
For now, the “cockroach” protesters appear to be outmanoeuvring the political establishment.
Their youthful energy may ultimately prove more durable than India’s ageing political leadership, which increasingly appears wedded to ideas that are outdated and rigid.
