The cockroach occupies a unique place in public disgust. Across cultures, it signifies contamination, decay and infestation.

So when the Chief Justice of India invoked the metaphor of cockroaches while criticising some sections of unemployed youth drifting toward activism and social media, the remark possibly bore the imprint of this embedded cultural contempt for the insect.

But India’s Gen Z responded to this criticism with an unexpected act of inversion. Instead of rejecting the censure, it reclaimed it. The rise of the Cockroach Janta Party — a satirical political outfit — thus represents one of the most revealing acts of symbolic appropriation in recent times...

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Rajbir Singh