Internet satire platform Cockroach Janta Party’s "founding president" Abhijeet Dipke has announced he will return from the US on Saturday to campaign for the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is beset by several examination scams.
"My family and friends are afraid that I will be arrested right from the airport and sent to jail," Dipke said in a video message on the group’s social media handles.
"….I want to make it clear, I am a big admirer of Gandhi, Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Nehru, and I believe in the Constitution of India more than anything else, which gives all of us the right to express our voice in a democracy."
While the CJP is believed to have sought support from various Opposition groups including the Congress, the Grand Old Party is yet to respond publicly, choosing to watch the viral trend keenly while treading with caution.
"Yes, I am coming back to my country, my home, India, to demand the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan…. Eight lakh students have signed our petition (for Pradhan to quit)…," Dipke said in his video message.
"And not just that, protests are also happening regarding this issue in many places across the country, such as Lucknow, Jaipur, and Maharashtra. Yet, they still do not care. A joke has been made out of the lives of over 1 crore students — including 22 lakh from NEET, 17 lakh from CBSE, 16 lakh from CUET, and 40 lakh from SSC GD."
The NEET, the all-India entrance test for undergraduate medical and dental courses, has had to be postponed over leaked questions. The CBSE, India’s largest school board, has seen a new on-screen marking system trigger widespread poor scores, with the grievance-redress mechanism hit by portal glitches.
Computer snags have played havoc with the CUET, which governs undergraduate admissions to general-stream courses. And the Staff Selection Commission General Duty exam, which helps recruit constables and riflemen to the central paramilitary forces, has been bedevilled by mass-cheating charges.
"If the education minister hasn't resigned even after such a massive blunder, it means there is no such thing as accountability left in our country…," Dipke said in his message.
"I have decided that I will arrive in Delhi on Saturday morning, June 6. Please join me at the airport and together we will go to the Parliament Street police station to ask for permission to hold a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar…."
Dipke, formerly with the AAP, has been in Boston since 2023.
The trigger for the CJP's inception was Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s May 15 remark in court about "youngsters like cockroaches" who "don’t get any employment and don't have any place in the (legal) profession".
Within four days of its May 16 launch, the CJP had overtaken the BJP on Instagram, the trend seen as a sign of Gen Z’s deep disillusionment with the ruling establishment.
The CJP's social media pages were later blocked by the Centre or "hacked". However, fierce protests by student groups against the government are continuing on the streets.
A Congress MP told The Telegraph: "Our party had earlier planned to channelise the discontent among Gen Z towards the 2029 polls. The exam scams and the CJP movement have led to a premature peaking of the youth rage.
"Apprehensions have been expressed by some of our senior leaders on how organic the CJP actually is and whether it is influenced by the ruling establishment or foreign powers. We oppose attempts to curb free speech by the government, but at the same time we need clarity on what the CJP intends to do."
Another Congress leader said the party’s student arm had received feelers from the CJP.
"The National Students’ Union of India was approached by CJP people to collaborate with them. The NSUI is holding its own protests and calls upon all right-thinking citizens to join in," he said. "The Congress neither wishes to appropriate the CJP nor oppose it."
The Youth Congress has launched its own "I am cockroach" campaign.
A group in Chennai has announced plans to register an actual political party by the same name. A lawyer in Haryana too moved to register a party named CJP on May 29.