India's 'Cockroach' youth movement founder arrives in New Delhi to protest Modi

NEW DELHI: The founder of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to lead a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, taking the country’s largest online youth movement to the streets for the first time.

Abhijeet Dipke, 30, who has lived in the United States for the past two years, had said his family and friends feared he could be arrested on his return to India.

Dozens of police officers gathered near Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi on Saturday, barricading some of the surrounding roads as protesters shouted slogans demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Modi’s government has blocked the movement’s X account in the country, a move the Cockroach Janta Party has challenged in a Delhi court. Senior cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju has accused the group of seeking followers from Pakistan and the “anti-India gang”.

The group, which has amassed roughly 22 million Instagram followers since launching in mid-May, is the largest online expression of dissent against the Hindu nationalist Modi’s 12-year-old rule, fuelled by persistently high youth unemployment and recurring leaks of examination papers that threaten to derail the careers of millions of students.

Political analysts say the group’s popularity has begun to dent Modi’s image despite his party’s recent victories in key state elections, even as wider frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages brought by the Iran war.

Police used loudspeakers to direct people to Saturday’s designated protest site.

“This is a peaceful movement for the youth of the nation,” said movement spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka. Dipke is “ready for a long and big day in India’s politics”, Ranka said.

India has nearly 400 million people aged 15 to 29, and generating non-farm jobs for them remains one of its biggest challenges despite rapid growth. The urban youth jobless rate was nearly 14% in April. Many educated young people are also stuck in low-paid or insecure jobs that do not match their skills, economists say.