On Saturday, Abhijeet Dipke stood on stage at Jantar Mantar and had a message for Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, delivered just minutes after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister.
“Thanks for calling us cockroaches,” he said, and added, “I would like to thank CJI Surya Kant. If he hadn’t called us cockroaches, I wouldn’t have come to India. This movement would not have started.”
Pradhan had stepped down under pressure from a movement that got both its name and its starting point from a remark made by the country’s top judge.
"There's no need to be afraid. This is democracy. He has resigned, but we have two more demands. We won't go like this. Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned. But the families of the children who committed suicide should receive compensation of one crore rupees. They should get it. One… pic.twitter.com/N8cT0DFAPH
— Cockroach Janta Party (@CJP_for_India) July 25, 2026
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Where it all began
The story goes back to May 15, when the Supreme Court was hearing a case about Senior Advocate designations.
During the hearing, the CJI remarked that “there are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment and don’t have any place in the profession.”
He later clarified that he meant only people holding fake law degrees, not unemployed youth in general, and said parts of the media had misquoted him but by then the comment had already gone viral, and the clarification did little to calm things down.
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Birth of the Cockroach Janta Party
Dipke, who was studying in Boston at the time and had earlier worked as a communications strategist for the Aam Aadmi Party, responded to the remark on X the very next day.
On May 16, he launched the Cockroach Janta Party, calling it a platform for “all the ‘cockroaches’ out there.” He listed the eligibility criteria half jokingly as being unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and able to rant professionally.
What started as a satirical post picked up real momentum through late May, as anger grew over the NEET UG paper leak. By early June, Dipke had flown back to India to lead protests in person at Jantar Mantar.
Wangchuk’s hunger strike raises the stakes
The movement’s core demand, Pradhan’s resignation over the exam irregularities, gained further weight when educator and activist Sonam Wangchuk joined in with an indefinite hunger strike on June 28.
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He kept up the fast for 26 days before ending it earlier this week, after the government gave written assurances on three fronts, that no cases would be filed against peaceful protesters, that Parliament would take up examination reforms and accountability, and that compensation would be considered for the families of students who died by suicide following the alleged paper leak.
Holding firm despite pressure
Even after Wangchuk ended his fast, the Cockroach Janta Party did not budge from its central demand. This held true even through a lathicharge on protesters on July 20, as the government’s initially rigid stance slowly began to give way.
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Pradhan resigns
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 25, 2026
In his resignation letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pradhan said he was acting “keeping the future of students in mind.” He also linked the decision to making sure “anti-national elements are not benefitted by the situation at Jantar Mantar and across the country.”
FAQs
1: What is the Cockroach Janta Party?
A satirical protest group started by Abhijeet Dipke on May 16, calling itself a platform for “all the ‘cockroaches’ out there.”
2: Who is Abhijeet Dipke?
A Boston based student and former AAP communications strategist who returned to India in June to lead the protests.
