Gen Z protests led by India’s ‘Cockroach party’ are testing Modi’s

Thousands of Gen Z student protestors, led by the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, a pseudo-political outfit, continued to gather in New Delhi on Wednesday even as authorities have cracked down on the movement.

India has one of the world’s largest youth populations, and the protests are the result of Gen Z anger stemming from youth unemployment and lack of economic mobility, experts said.

“The ongoing demonstrations could represent the most significant public challenge to the government since the farmers’ mobilization in 2020-2021,” Atman Trivedi, partner at Washington-based DGA Albright Stonebridge Group, told CNBC.

The CJP started as an “online political satire” but has now turned into a “serious, real-world protest movement,” Trivedi added.

The student protest started on June 6, demanding the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, blaming him for the exam paper leaks that happened in May. It elicited support from Sonam Wangchuk, an activist and educator, who has been on a hunger strike for 25 days and is receiving medical care.

Demonstrations intensified this week after students on Monday breached security barricades surrounding the protest site as they marched toward the parliament and were tear-gassed and beaten up by Delhi Police. The police have said that more than 100 personnel were injured in “violent protests.”

It seemed that police used violent means to “cause maximum damage possible” rather than to disperse the crowd, Lavanya Singh, who was present at the protests on July 20, told CNBC. The 26-year-old returned to the protest on Wednesday and plans to attend it “every day.”

“The [exam paper] leak, is an example of how this govt has repeatedly failed us,” Singh said, adding that a mixture of “feeling betrayed, anger, and helplessness” is driving the protestors. The CJP is not “perfect” but is trying to deliver justice and is listening to the youth of our nation, Singh said.

The Indian home ministry did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The CJP was launched on May 16 by political communications strategist and Boston University student Abhijeet Dipke, after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant referred to people attacking institutions as “parasites” and likened some unemployed youngsters and activists to “cockroaches” during a courtroom hearing. The CJI later said his oral observations were “misquoted.”

The CJP has since gone viral on social…