The Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, was formed in May 2026 after India's Chief Justice Surya Kant likened unemployed youth to cockroaches during a protest against the government's cancellation of medical school entrance exams. By July, the movement had secured the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It has since turned its attention to what it calls a much larger issue: the Election Commission's reported deletion of approximately 130 million names from the voter rolls.
Since Oct. 2, protesters have taken to the streets of Delhi, Mumbai and other cities, demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, that the deletions be halted pending an independent inquiry, and that the old electoral rolls be restored before the next elections. The movement has encountered strong government resistance. Two of its spokespersons, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, have been detained. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have refused to bend on the voter roll issue, instead accusing protesters of undermining democracy.
The Election Commission says the revision will remove duplicate entries, deceased voters and noncitizens. But critics worry that the burden of proof falls on voters, particularly poor Muslims, Dalits and migrant workers who may struggle to produce decades-old birth, education and land certificates. Those whose names are struck from the rolls also fear being branded illegal immigrants.
The CJP draws heavily on the legacy of B. R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian constitution, and defines community by shared commitments rather than by faith, caste or birth. The movement's manifesto opens with the line: "If you are going to call us cockroaches, the least you can do is pay our rent." It calls for making "lazy", a code word for the unemployed, a protected political identity, arguing that stigmatizing the jobless offends millions of impoverished people.
Women have been prominent in the protests. Neha Bora, a Ph.D. student and president of the left-wing All India Students' Association, has seen her profile soar with blunt messages to Modi. The prime minister has said he was shocked by the vulgar language used by "our daughters" but viewed them as "misdirected children" and was ready to forgive them. Protesters describe being beaten and sexually harassed by police, and say they face online doxing, threats of rape and acid attacks, and demeaning AI-generated images.
The CJP motto, "Cockroaches never die," has wide resonance. The movement's sunglass-wearing cockroach mascot makes a mockery of leader-centered nationalist branding. Recent youth-led uprisings in Bangladesh and Nepal have shown how quickly online mobilization can translate into street protests.