A mock political party erupted across Indian social media this week: the Cockroach Janta Party, as the satirical movement was known, has become a symbol of Gen Z disillusionment with the country’s political establishment and anger over a worsening jobs crisis in the world’s most populous nation.
It quickly overtook the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Instagram, racking up more than 20 million followers. It also attracted attention from rivals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Cockroach Janta Party [CJP] is India’s most honest political party for the lazy, unemployed and forgotten citizens,” the spoof party said on its website. It had “given a voice to millions of young Indians who feel neglected by traditional politics”.
The party was launched on May 16 after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant referred to some unemployed young people as “parasites” and “cockroaches” during a courtroom hearing, sparking backlash online.
Kant, India’s most senior judge, later said he had been misquoted by sections of the media. The clarification did little to slow the movement’s momentum on social media.
Political analysts say its popularity reflects growing Gen Z resentment with the Modi government’s inability to create enough employment opportunities for the young.
India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, but it is still not expanding quickly enough to generate jobs for the millions of young people entering the workforce each year.
According to Azim Premji University, unemployment among university graduates has remained persistently high for decades – around 20 per cent among those aged 25 to 29 as of 2023.
The Cockroach Janta Party comes in the wake of Gen Z-fuelled protests in other parts of South Asia in recent years, where young people swept out governments in Nepal and Bangladesh. Last year, India’s Himalayan neighbour Nepal was rocked by youth-led protests over unemployment and corruption.
“The speed at which it has reached out to this entire generation and amassed so many million followers shows that it has resonated,” Zaad Mahmood, a professor of politics at Presidency University in Kolkata, said about CJP’s rise. “It shows a deepening frustration with the kind of politics and society that they inhabit.”
The party was launched just weeks after Modi’s BJP secured a landmark victory in the eastern state of West Bengal, expanding its reach beyond its traditional strongholds in northern and western India. The BJP and its allies now control two-thirds of India’s states.
“I don’t feel politically represented,” said Shreeum Rakheja, a 25-year-old who signed up for the CJP within days of its launch.
There are emerging signs of political churn driven by Gen Z voters. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, young voters helped propel a 51-year-old movie star to a shock electoral victory earlier in May, defeating parties that had dominated the state’s politics for decades.
