Mainstream WeeklyPrologue
Conservative British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan is said to have been once asked what he feared most and to have tersely replied: "Events, dear boy, events." This famous story, accurate or not, vividly brings out a very significant side of the way political developments take place. Even the best-laid plans of the mighty may, all of a sudden, get severely upset by the unscripted.
Since the May 2014 mandate that brought the BJP to power, the new regime, all the while, looked quite unshakeable — despite a few tremors, viz. the CAA/NRC protests and the subsequent agitations against three farm laws, mainly by the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. And then the magical(?) Bharat Jodo Yatra, eventually culminating in a significant electoral setback for the ruling party in 2024. An utterly careless and characteristically imperious and insensitive remark by the incumbent CJI on 15 May 2026 is, now, turning out to be just one such big game-changer referred to by Harold Macmillan.[1]
The sequence that’d quickly follow is broadly like this:
15 May: Chief Justice Surya Kant, during a hearing on Senior Advocate designations, lashed out at unemployed youngsters turned online activists who "attack everyone". He likened them to "cockroaches" and "parasites". Faced with severe backlash, he’d hurriedly sort of backtrack the very next day. But, by then the damage was already done.[2]
16 May: One Abhijeet Dipke, a Dalit Indian student then in Boston, posted on X: "What if all cockroaches come together?". Thus the "Cockroach Janta Party" was launched the very same day, with a website, a membership form, a parody manifesto and an Instagram presence.[2]
Within days: Al Jazeera reported an astounding 11.1 million Instagram followers in three days and 350,000-plus sign-ups! Other reports put the following at over 20 million by late May. Reuters noted that the group had gone viral and was spotlighting Gen Z worries about jobs, exams and political alienation.[3][4]
Late May: the joke attached itself to real grievances: unemployment, exam irregularities (NEET-UG 2026 had been cancelled just three days before the remark) and alienation of the youth.[2]
1 to 3 June: Dipke announced his return to India and a sit-in at Jantar Mantar on 6 June, demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. He named three spokespersons: Saurav Das, Vijeta Dahiya and Ashutosh Ranka.[5] Quite contrary to widespread apprehensions, his arrival at and exit from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, in Delhi, were remarkably smooth and uneventful.
6 June: the protest began. An indefinite sit-in started on June 20. Sonam Wangchuk, a well-known environmental activist, who had earlier solidarised with the agitation by launching an indefinite hunger strike on June 28 that would last 26 days. The protest itself lasted 36 days and ended on 25 July on a triumphant note with bitterly fought for Pradhan’s resignation eventually obtained.[3][4][6][7]
A casual toxic courtroom remark sparked off a chain of events that no one had ever anticipated. A Vesuvius of youth anger, that hardly anyone suspected of having existed, came suddenly alive. What Rahul Gandhi had failed to do, despite his persistent herculean efforts, was achieved by the Supreme Court Chief Justice almost at the snap of his fingers. And the CJP, quite unheard of until the previous day, provided the necessary platform.
Presented below is a stage-wise condensed account of the momentous developments that’d soon follow — based on real-time field notes penned and issued by this writer from time-to-time over this short period as a concerned and engaged observer.
A New Kid on the Block? (May 23) [8]
The just-born Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has triggered a huge sensation among the chatterati.[9]
The founder, Abhijeet Dipke, is reportedly a 30-year-old Indian graduate of Boston University, USA. He is a Dalit, as per his own deposition: "I am a Dalit myself", he posted on X on 21 May 2026. He launched the CJP online on 16 May 2026. The title is a caustic satirical take on the CJI’s remark and a pun on the ruling BJP’s name.[2] [Also: I. X account of the founder: [10]. II. The profile link of the founder on FB: [11]. III. Two very recent news items as regards the huge sensation that the party has triggered among the chatterati: AA. [12]. BB. [13].]
The party appears to be an updated version of the still extant AAP. It is an expression of revolt mainly by chunks of the (relatively) privileged against the "system", in an even purer and quite a bit more evolved form.
Its salient features:
- No specific "ideology".
- The focus, even if only implicitly, is on "corruption".
- The method is "subversion".
- Its USP is its uniqueness: no alliance. Whatever.
- It has yet no physical presence on the ground.
Nonetheless, it has become a huge sensation in the virtual world. So much so that the incumbent Modi regime took note and put in efforts to stifle it in its infancy. The party’s official X account was withheld in India on 21 May 2026.[2]
It has some broad similarities with the Gen Z protest movement, now ensconced in power in neighbouring Nepal (September 2025) and maybe also with Madagascar last October. A comparable wave of youth-led protests brought new governments to power in Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2024) and Nepal (2025). Where it would go from here was something one could, at that point, only speculate about. It might just vanish like a meteor making a short and blazing journey across the sky overhead. Or, even if less likely, it might also make some lasting impact. Neither is guaranteed.[1]
The July Uprising: "The Rise of Fearless Youth" (July 24) [14]
By late July, what had begun at Jantar Mantar on 6 June had swelled into a mass street protest.[15]
The essential fact that defines this agitation is the following. At least two leftist student outfits, viz. AISA and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the SFI, took part in the protest. The protest was nominally led by a newborn party with the rather weird name "Cockroach Janta Party". Yet the overwhelming bulk of those who joined on the 20th of July at Jantar Mantar were "non-political" youth, and quite consciously so. A significant number came from the (much) better-off sections.[6]
They joined so unreservedly primarily because in their consciousness the CJP doesn’t register as a "political party". This is despite Abhijeet Dipke’s full-throated call for the dethronement of the BJP and the installation of the (barely existing) CJP in its stead. The contrasting outcome of Rahul Gandhi’s much longer persistent efforts to mobilise students on related issues, including "paper leak", despite decent turnouts, is too conspicuous to be missed. The aversion to "politics" and political banners is all too evident. So is the accumulated frustration, disaffection and rage that has now found an outlet.
Many, or maybe most, of them were BJP supporters till yesterday. The brutal police repression unleashed on them (tear gas, scores injured) may therefore very well turn out to be too costly a miscalculation. (The unfolding pictures outside Delhi may be somewhat different, though.) Truly amazing is that, despite all the savage brutalities, the protesting spirits refused to be cowed down.
Subsequent development: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on 25 July 2026, and the protests were called off the same day after the government agreed to the CJP’s demands. This is reported as the first time in Modi’s twelve years in power that a protest movement forced out a senior minister over governance failures.[1]
Vote Chori and Poll Boycott: Dipke vis-a-vis Rahul Gandhi (September 26) [16]
The immediate backdrop is as follows. On 23 September 2026, the Indian Express carried an explosive front-page report by investigative journalist Ritika Chopra (also its current Resident Editor). It documented 14 formal recorded objections, over ten months, by the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The objections concerned critical and highly controversial SIR-related decisions taken and executed by the CEC, Gyanesh Kumar. They covered changes to Form 6, voter deletions and restorations, access to electoral-roll software and the growing centralisation of the electoral database.[17]
The ECI insists that all three Commissioners approved all SIR orders and that differing opinions are normal in any institution. The BJP has also, rather predictably, dismissed the opposition charges as false. The episode has intensely rekindled the confrontation over electoral integrity, and amplified longstanding opposition claims of "vote chori", while the SIR exercise continues regardless amidst high political stakes.
Rahul Gandhi’s 24 September press conference demanded CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and alleged nationwide election rigging in 2024 and beyond. It framed the issue as constitutional treason by the Centre and the ECI. The CJP issued a 48-hour resignation ultimatum to Kumar, demanded a freeze on SIR and elections, a rollback of rolls, an independent inquiry and repeal of the 2023 appointment law, and threatened nationwide protests. At its press conference in Delhi on 24 September, the CJP’s founding leader Abhijeet Dipke called for a poll boycott. At roughly the same time, a short distance away, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition and spearhead of the mainstream resistance, took a rather contrasting stand.[18][19]
The report is, in its scope, quite comparable with the famous Watergate reports of the Washington Post in the US, which began on 19 June 1972. What its final outcome will be remains to be seen.
The whole system is now quite visibly compromised. The very first step towards any meaningful correction has got to be the unseating of the incumbent evil regime, which has planfully engineered this quagmire. It must be equally evident that a passive vote boycott cannot do that. It would only make life easier, not harder, for these forces.
There are essentially two models before us.
Model I: Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2024) and Nepal (2025). The government in power is overthrown via (unarmed) mass upheaval. A rather short interim arrangement follows. Not too long after, a popular government elected via poll is put in power.[1]
Model II: India (1977) and Hungary (2026). In India, a mish-mash combination of (mainly) Right and (some) Left accomplished the task. In Hungary, something broadly similar happened: a Centre-Right coalition deposed the hard Right. Péter Magyar’s Tisza won a landslide on 12 April 2026, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. The polls in both cases were conducted by the respective authoritarian regimes in place, with the whole system remaining seriously compromised. The incumbents nonetheless got deposed. Corrective measures followed only thereafter.[8][9]
A third way, armed revolution, whether urban insurrection or long-drawn civil war in the countryside, has gone pretty much out of fashion. In recent decades it has hardly ever occurred, and even otherwise it is too costly.
The issue right now is which of the two options may work in India. Again, the answer should be fairly obvious. Sri Lanka and Nepal are (very) small countries, and even Bangladesh is far smaller than India. It is highly unlikely that, in a vast and diverse country like India, a regime very much backed by one of the largest armed forces in the world can be thrown out by sheer street protests. A recent analysis reaches a similar conclusion. Street protests will of course play a vital role in building and shaping popular mood. But at the end of the day it will have to be done via polls, however compromised, as happened here in 1977 and in Hungary this year.[1]
The CJP, a fresh entrant, is determinedly trying to mark out a distinct and, if possible, the prime place for itself in the Indian political firmament. It will keep trying out various tricks towards that. Hardly any surprise. One will have to take that in one’s stride. The challenge is how to make use of its positive and very significant contributions, in undermining the legitimacy of the incumbent regime, in the most optimum and efficient manner.
Scrap the SIR! Scrap Its Outcomes! (September 27) [20]
Before Dharmendra Pradhan actually resigned on July 25, Modi had tried to stem the tide by announcing fast-track courts and tougher punishment for those found guilty.[21]
Within days, Pradhan had to be shown the door.
This 26/9 press release by the ECI looks very much like a replay of that first act in the previous episode.
The subsequent acts are still waiting to happen. This is, however, the first sure sign that the tables have, at long last, started turning. Just the beginning.
- Sack all the three Election Commissioners!
- Prosecute them!".
- Enact a new law governing the appointment and functioning of the Election Commission — to make it truly independent, neutral and transparent!
- Scrap the SIR in its present form. Go back to the earlier norms!
- Cancel the post-SIR poll outcomes!
- Hold fresh polls!
Tension between the CJP and Congress: Spills out in the open! (October 5)
On 2 October, the CJP began an agitation in Mumbai demanding the CEC’s resignation. On 3 October, tensions with the Congress spilled into the open in three X messages.[22][23][24][25] Two of the three spokespersons of the CJP and a Congress spokesperson from Assam were involved. The tone was extremely bitter.
It bears mentioning that the three CJP spokespersons, in the past, interacted with, sought, and appreciated help from several opposition parties. The list includes the Left and, quite interestingly, Mamata Banerjee too. They, however, scrupulously avoided the Congress. Similarly, the Congress leadership, while extending some basic courtesies during Sonam Wangchuk’s fast, carefully avoided any comment, positive or negative, about the CJP itself. Instead it kept championing the students’ causes from its own independent platform. The reason is too obvious.
The CJP is essentially AAP 2.0, AAP reinvented. It looks upon itself as the prospective main challenger to the ruling BJP, while cautiously evading the issue of RSS and Hindutva ideology, very much unlike Rahul Gandhi. To that end, the Congress must be dislodged from its current perch as the recognised principal challenger to the BJP.
In this context, it is good and significant that Saurav Das referred to the Congress as the "liberal ecosystem", to which he doesn’t claim to belong. It is also worth recalling that the AAP was, inter alia, among the earliest and most prominent supporters, from amongst the non-NDA ranks, of the effective abrogation of Article 370. At one point, in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly election, its website even carried the slogan "Modi for PM, Arvind for CM!" It was of course soon taken down under the impact of a strong backlash. So on and so forth. Cut to the CJP itself: it, just the other day, quite approvingly and rather gleefully held up RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s positive remarks about the agitation.[26]
Regardless, while both the Congress and the CJP are jockeying for broadly the same space and are thereby natural rivals, they are nonetheless complementing each other too. The CJP, a surprise new entrant, is harvesting a field so diligently ploughed by Rahul Gandhi. Conversely, Rahul Gandhi is a direct beneficiary of the magic wave triggered by the CJP, especially among Gen Z. Both are, in their own ways, seriously undermining, or subverting, the moral and political legitimacy of the incumbent regime. (Especially take note of the new and unconventional slogans being raised and the astonishing pluck of the young girls, in particular, on display.)
It is a process which still has a long and bumpy way to go. The stakeholders had better keep that in mind.
In Conclusion
Finally, the following point needs to be specifically flagged.
The 25 July resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan was of course a very major achievement. In fact, till the very last moment, the government tried to appear quite uncompromising on that point. So much so that after 26 days of fast on 23rd July Sonam Wangchuk, by far the most revered figure in the CJP camp at that time, had to abandon his fast without the satisfaction of achieving that major goal, less than 48 hours before the Minister finally resigned. Consequently, his image suddenly and drastically diminished. The halo that had grown around him quickly faded.
Regardless, this time even the immediate goal is far tougher to achieve. Last time, the regime, after all, had to sacrifice just a pawn. It was mainly an issue of prestige and the image of invulnerability. This time, what is at stake has far greater import. The SIR is being challenged outright. Its executor’s scalp is demanded.
To be sure, the SIR occupies a prime slot in the game plan of the Hindutva camp. At one level, it is meant to radically redraw the electoral demography of India as is also the move to redistribute parliamentary seats between the North and the South based on population. This is expected to hand over a big advantage to the BJP, on a permanent basis, in all future polls.
But, even more important than that, this SIR is meant to strip a sizable chunk of Indian citizenry of their citizenship itself. A nightmarish prospect for them. Again, beyond the discrimination element, the overnight creation of a large number of stateless people, nursing bitter frouse against the oppressor state, will be leveraged to further fuel and keep perpetually alive a low-key civil war-like situation that would in turn be harnessed to mobilise the Hindus as "Hindus" to the end of installing a "Hindu" supremacist state by thoroughly dismantling the democratic, pluralist structure that had been brought into being at the successful culmination of the decades-long epic freedom struggle.
That’s a situation all sensible ones must strive to avert
References
[1] ’India’s ’Cockroach Janta Party’ began as a joke. Then ...’ by NBC News, dated May 23 2026 at https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/indias-cockroach-janata-party-began-joke-millions-joined-rcna346466
[2] ’Cockroach Janta Party (CJP): How Abhijeet Dipke’s collective became an online sensation’ by BBC News, dated May 21 2026 at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz72y11jjq1o
[3] ’Cockroach Janta Party’: Top Indian judge’s comment sparks satire, protest’ at
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/features/2026/5/20/cockroach-janata-party-top-indian-judges-com ment-sparks-satire-protest
[4] ’COM grad turns cockroach insult of India youth into massive ...’ by Boston University, dated June 8 2026 at https://www.bu.edu/com/articles/com-grad-turns-cockroach-insult-of-india-youth-into-massive-online-movement/
[5] ’Who are Saurav Das, Vijeta Dahiya and Ashutosh Ranka: Three spokespersons of the Cockroach Janata Party’ at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/who-are-saurav-das-vijeta-dahiya-and-ashutosh-ranka-three-spokespersons-of-the-cockroach-janata-party/articleshow/131533808.cms
[6] ’We Are Cockroaches, We Outlived Dinosaurs’ by The Wire, dated June 9 2026 at https://m.thewire.in/article/government/we-are-cockroaches-we-outlived-dinosaurs/amp
[7] ’Tear Gas Containers And Hope For A Better Future: The Duality Of Protest’ at https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dharmendra-pradhan-resignation-cockroach-janta-party-jantar-mantar-cjp-protest-tear-gas-containers-and-hope-for-a-better-future-the-duality-of-protest-11821913
[8] ’The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP): A New Kid on the Block?’ at https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/WWdpftzDDC8
[9] ’CJI Surya Kant’s ’cockroach’ comment back in focus as MP says ’thanks’ amid CJP march’ by Hindustan Times, dated July 20 2026 at https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cji-surya-kants-cockroach-remark-returns-to-focus-as-mp-sanjay-raut-says-thanks-amid-cjp-march-wangchuk-strike-101784562412074.html
[10] X account of the founder: https://x.com/i/status/2057346693176107394
[11] The profile link of the founder on FB: https://www.facebook.com/share/1A9mngeYPB/
[12] Deutsche Welle report on CJP sensation: https://www.dw.com/en/india-news-cockroaches-overtake-modis-bjp-on-instagram/live-77236328
[13] ABC News report on CJP support: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-22/india-cockroach-janta-party-amasses-support-from-millions/106709230
[14] ’The July Uprising: "The Rise of Fearless Youth" (July 24)’ at https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/WKkp1QUZARU/m/wOJrN6ZiAAAJ
[15] ’CJP protest: The rise of fearless youth’ by Rediff News (July 23, 2026) at https://m.rediff.com/news/column/cjp-protest-the-rise-of-fearless-youth/20260723.htm
[16] ’Vote Chori and Poll Boycott: Dipke vis-a-vis Rahul Gandhi (September 26)’ at https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/elVF9l6jPz8/m/TgXt5nYEAQAJ
[17] ’14 times in 10 months, two Election Commissioners objected on record to poll panel steps’ by Indian Express, dated September 23 2026 at https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/election-commission-sir-14-objections-gyanesh-kumar-sukhbir-singh-sandhu-vivek-joshi-10889737/
[18] ’The Man Turning the Cockroach Into a Gen-Z Movement in India’ by New York Times, dated May 28 2026 at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/world/asia/cockroach-janta-party-india-movement.html
[19] Rahul Gandhi’s 24 September press conference at https://youtu.be/Bwvf62RtgZc
[20] ’Scrap the SIR! Scrap Its Outcomes! (September 27)’ at https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/3ReZDUFTI8s/m/hp1GplWZBAAJ
[21] Narendra Modi X message at https://x.com/narendramodi/status/2080135258142617785
[22] Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh X message at https://x.com/SinghReetam/status/2106264573921898819
[23] Ashutosh Ranka X message at https://x.com/AshutoshRanka/status/2106244942431670618
[24] Saurav Das X message at https://x.com/SauravDassss/status/2106252383345144239
[25] Tensions between the CJP and Congress: Spills out in the open: https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/-2nVoEVqWmI
[26] ’CJP invokes Bhagwat’s Gen-Z remarks, questions BJP’s stand on youth protests’ by Telangana Today at https://telanganatoday.com/cjp-invokes-bhagwats-gen-z-remarks-questions-bjps-stand-on-youth-protests