India's frustrated students find a symbol: the cockroach

Young Indians frustrated by unemployment and exam scandals are rallying behind an unusual symbol: the cockroach. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from New Delhi.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:

In India right now, there are young people who proudly call themselves cockroaches. It began as a joke on social media but has snowballed into a real-life political movement. NPR's Diaa Hadid went to their first protest in New Delhi today. And a warning, this story has a mention of suicide.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Protesters chant at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shame on you. Resign, they shout at the education minister. Stop burning the country. Anger has been snowballing in India since mid-May when authorities canceled results of nationwide exams to enter medical colleges after they said some answers were leaked. It happened after 2.2 (ph) hopeful students did the test. Then Indian media reported at least four students who did the exam died by suicide.

One mother came to the protest with her daughter. She only gave her first name, Bobby, because she worried about retribution for herself and her daughter if they were identified. She said she was anguished over the story of one student who left behind a note saying she couldn't muster the energy to do the exam again.

BOBBY: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: She says, "I'm a mother, and I think about what happened to that daughter. The government says it's suicide. We say it's murder."

BOBBY: (Non-English language spoken)

HADID: In India, parents sell their possessions, go into debt to pay for tuition for their children, sometimes for years, hoping they'll be one of the few who clear these exams. It's one of the few ways of getting ahead in deeply unequal India. So to cancel the exam stung.

Many of the people protesting held signs saying, I am a cockroach. That reference was initially a meme in response to the chief justice of India's Supreme Court, who called unemployed youth cockroaches. He later said he was misquoted, but anger boiled online, partly because of the reports of suicides. Abhijeet Dipke, a political communication strategist and Boston University student, told the Hindu newspaper he decided to own the insult.

ABHIJEET DIPKE: I made a tweet on Twitter, what if all cockroaches come together?

HADID: He launched the Cockroach Party, called it the voice of the lazy and unemployed. Now the Cockroach Instagram page has more than 22 million followers. The original X page for the Cockroach Party was taken down in India. Media loyal to the Indian government have been discrediting the movement, like Arnab Goswami, an incendiary host at the outlet Republic World.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ARNAB GOSWAMI: You know, viewers, this could be a sign of a multi-pronged attack against India.

HADID: Spokespeople for the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party declined to comment to NPR about the movement. Vaishna Roy is editor of the investigative magazine Frontline. She says, it's unclear how this movement will evolve. But for now, she describes it as...

VAISHNA ROY: A bunch of very, very angry and frustrated students who are trying to talk to the government.

HADID: And she says, if the government just listens, that alone will be an achievement. Diaa Hadid, NPR News.

Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.