Cockroach Insult Unleashes Biggest Challenge yet to Modi’s Repressive Rule

Supporters of the Cockroach Janta party rally against the Minister of Education in Kolkata, India, 24 July 2026. Credit: Debarchan Chatterjee/NurPhoto via AFPOpinion by Andrew Firmin (london)Friday, August 21, 2026Inter Press Service LONDON, August 21 (IPS) - India’s strongman leader, Narendra Modi, has just been forced to do the thing he likes least: making concessions in response to protests. It all started on 15 May, when the country’s Chief Justice, Surya Kant, told a courtroom that unemployed young people who protest and speak out on social media are like cockroaches. The remark, revealing the establishment’s contempt for the country’s young people, spectacularly backfired. Within days it had spawned a nationwide movement, the Cockroach Janta Party. Its central protest demand was the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Pradhan quit on 25 July. But that may not be enough to satisfy the demand for change the movement has unleashed.Birth of a movementIndia has more Gen Z people than any other country. Around 407 million Indians, some 30 per cent of the population, are aged 14 to 29. They face extraordinary competition to access education and struggle to find job...