On May 15, 2026, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said something from the Supreme Court bench that left the country’s unemployed youth with a choice: be offended, or be organised.
“There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment and don’t have a place in a profession,” the CJI said during a hearing on fake law degrees. “Some of them become media, some of them become RTI activists, and they start attacking everyone.”
Within 48 hours, those youngsters had a party, a five-point manifesto, an election symbol, and more than 25,000 registered members.
Who Founded It
Abhijeet Dipke, a digital content creator and political commentator, founded the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on May 16, 2026, the day after the CJI’s remarks went viral. He now carries the title “Founding President.”
His first post was deliberately casual: “Launching a new platform for all the ‘cockroaches’ out there. Eligibility criteria: Unemployed. Lazy. Chronically online. Ability to rant professionally.”
The party’s website, cockroachjantaparty.org, went live the same day under the tagline “Voice of the Lazy & Unemployed.” Within 24 hours, the platform claimed to have crossed 20,000 members. Dipke’s own posts later placed the figure at 25,000. The numbers have not been independently verified.
Why It’s Going Viral
The CJI made his remarks during a Supreme Court hearing alongside Justice Joymalya Bagchi, on a petition against the Delhi High Court over the designation of senior advocates. The bench had grown frustrated by what it described as advocates with fake degrees using social media to attack judicial institutions.
On May 16, the CJI issued a clarification. “What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar with the aid of fake and bogus degrees,” he said in a statement reported by Bar and Bench. “Such persons have sneaked into media, social media, and other noble professions and hence they are like parasites.”
He also said: “Every youth of India inspires me. I see them as the pillars of a developed India.”
The Cockroach Janta Party noted the clarification and continued registering members.
The movement spread because the phrase landed on a live nerve. India’s youth unemployment is real. Competitive government examinations are fiercely contested. The RTI Act has become a primary tool for citizens without institutional standing to engage with governance. When the head of the country’s highest court reached for the word “cockroach” to describe people who use those tools, millions of young Indians felt directly addressed.
Gen Z users, opposition politicians, and digital activists responded by reclaiming the label — wearing it as a badge of resilience rather than a mark of shame.
Who Has Joined
The movement attracted attention far beyond social media.
Members of Parliament Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress and Kirti Azad voiced interest in joining the party. The media advocacy organisation Maadhyam, which campaigns for parliamentary reform, also expressed support.
Photographs of young people cleaning garbage dumps and shallow water bodies while wearing placards reading “I am a cockroach” circulated widely. Campaign songs were composed and shared. The movement’s official X account, @CJP_2029, posted a formal statement affirming the party’s commitment to the Indian Constitution: “We want to make it absolutely clear that CJP firmly believes in the Constitution of India and will always work towards protecting its values.”
What It Stands For
Despite its satirical origin, the CJP released a substantive Five-Point Agenda with concrete political demands.
The first, If the CJP comes in power, no Chief Justice shall be granted a Rajya Sabha seat as a post-retirement reward.
The second, If any legit vote is deleted, whether in a CJP or opposition-ruled state, the CEC shall be arrested under UAPA, as taking away voting rights of citizens is no less than terrorism.
The third targets the judiciary: Women shall receive 50% reservation, not 33%, without increasing the strength of Parliament. Additionally, 50% of all Cabinet positions shall be reserved for women.
The fourth calls for all media houses owned by Ambani and Adani shall have their licences cancelled to make way for truly independent media. Bank accounts of Godi media anchors shall be investigated.
The fifth demands that any MLA or MP who defects from one party to another shall be barred from contesting elections — and from holding any public office — for a period of 20 years.
The party describes itself as “secular, socialist, democratic, and lazy.”
Why the Language Matters
The Wire drew a sharp historical comparison. In Rwanda in 1994, the word “inyenzi” cockroach was systematically used against the Tutsi population before and during the genocide. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda later convicted radio leadership for incitement to genocide through precisely this language.
The CJI’s remarks were not made in that context, and he was quick to clarify their intended scope. But the speed and scale of the backlash reflects how loaded that word is particularly when spoken by the head of an institution constitutionally charged with protecting every citizen’s dignity, and directed at people exercising rights under Article 19 and the RTI Act.
The Cockroach Janta Party turned that word into a party registration form.
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