Cockroach Janta Party founder to return to India, call for protest

Millat Times Desk

01 June 2026 (Publish: 11:32 AM IST)

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Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the satirical youth-led campaign Cockroach Janta Party, said on Monday he would return to India on June 6 and launch a peaceful protest in New Delhi seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Dipke, a political communications strategist based in the United States and a former member of the Aam Aadmi Party’s social media team, said the protest was prompted by alleged irregularities in major examinations, including the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), which was cancelled amid allegations of a paper leak.

Students and job seekers have also raised concerns over alleged irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s Class 12 examinations and recruitment tests conducted by the Staff Selection Commission.

“The system has reduced the lives of over a crore students to a joke,” Dipke said in a social media post, adding that students had been left anxious about their future. He said Pradhan’s resignation was necessary to ensure accountability.

Dipke said he would arrive in Delhi on the morning of June 6 and seek permission from authorities to hold a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar, a designated site for public demonstrations in the capital.

“The time has come for all of us to come together, follow the path of the Constitution, and peacefully raise our voices,” he said.

The Cockroach Janta Party was launched on May 16 and describes itself as a youth-driven political campaign. The movement emerged after media reports quoted Chief Justice Surya Kant as comparing some unemployed young people to “cockroaches” during a court hearing.

Kant later said he had been misquoted and clarified that his remarks referred specifically to individuals who had entered professions using fake degrees, not young people in general.

The campaign has gained significant traction on social media, claiming more than 22 million followers on Instagram. Its account was blocked on May 21 following what the platform described as a legal demand. The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to immediately restore the account.