# Inside India's Cockroach Protests > Student activists in Delhi have turned a chief justice's insult into a mass movement challenging electoral fraud and state violence. - Title: Inside India's Cockroach Protests · The New Yorker | Shortify - Summary: Student activists in Delhi have turned a chief justice's insult into a mass movement challenging electoral fraud and state violence. - Keywords: india, delhi, student protests, cockroach janta party, bharatiya janata party, voter roll deletion, election commission, narendra modi, dharmendra pradhan, gyanesh kumar, neha bora, aisa - Source: The New Yorker — https://newyorker.com/news/the-lede/inside-indias-cockroach-protests - Author: Amitava Kumar - Published: 2026-10-31T10:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 4 min - Topics: india, delhi, student protests, cockroach janta party, bharatiya janata party, voter roll deletion, election commission, narendra modi, dharmendra pradhan, gyanesh kumar, neha bora, aisa ## A chief justice's insult sparks a movement India's chief justice called unemployed youth cockroaches. Abhijeet Dipke, who had recently finished graduate school at Boston University, responded online almost as a joke by launching the Cockroach Janta Party. > What if all cockroaches come together? ## The party's numbers swelled into millions In a few short months, the Cockroach Janta Party became a major opposition power in Indian politics. Its first victory was the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister. ## The exam scandal that started it all In May, India's National Testing Agency announced that entrance-exam papers for Indian medical schools had been leaked and sold. The exam was scrapped. At least twenty-one students died by suicide. ## Three hundred seventy million young Indians mobilized India has three hundred and seventy million people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine.Student mobilization produced a crack in the wall of power that Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have sought to project. ## Jantar Mantar was stripped of its protest status In mid-October, a few days before the author's arrival, Jantar Mantar was de-notified as a protest site. It was no longer available as a place to put democracy in action. ## Police and soldiers flooded the capital Buses containing soldiers in camouflage uniforms of the Central Reserve Police Force parked by roadsides. Vehicles of the Delhi Police with flashing lights idled at street corners. Constables in khaki uniforms stood around chatting. ## Protesters describe savage police treatment Anjali, a member of the All India Students' Association, said that away from cameras, police and paramilitary treated protesters with savagery. Students were constantly beaten, slapped with open palms, and kicked even when cooperating. > they were constantly beaten, slapped with open palms, and kicked ## A female constable helped detainees escape A female constable at the back of a detention bus told Anjali she had watched videos of the protesters and liked what they were saying. ## Journalists and lawyers also detained Journalist M.Rajshekhar reported being detained in a bus and seeing others pummelled.Lawyer Arjun Unnikrishnan spoke publicly about detainees being slapped and kicked in the genitals.Their phones were confiscated when released late at night. ## The cockroach becomes a political symbol At Netaji Subhash Place during Dussehra celebrations, an effigy of a cockroach was burned alongside traditional effigies of the demon king Ravana. The cockroach is the new demon in Hindu-nationalist mythology. ## A BJP politician links cockroaches to enemies Kapil Mishra, now a cabinet minister in Delhi's government, said the cockroach represented an alliance of filth, Naxalites, jihadis, and the corrupt. He lit the thirty-foot-tall effigy, which quickly went up in flames. > the cockroach represented an alliance of filth, Naxalites, jihadis, and the corrupt ## The real issue shifts to voter rolls The first wave of protests emerged from exam corruption and despair about future prospects. But the current explosion focuses on deletion of more than a hundred and thirty million names from electoral rolls. ## Minorities and the poor disproportionately removed The government undertook a revision of voting lists to remove duplicate, deceased, or undocumented people. Results have been dubious and inconsistent. Names of minorities, the poor, and marginalized groups have been disproportionately excised. ## Neha Bora emerges as a protest leader Neha Bora, the twenty-nine-year-old president of AISA, went on a twenty-three-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in summer. ## Neha refuses to sign a peace bond Unlike Cockroach Party leaders who were sentenced to five days in judicial custody after breaching Jantar Mantar barriers, Neha has refused to sign a peace bond vowing to maintain good behavior. ## Neha's stark warning about the BJP Neha told the author that when you mix water, tea leaves, and milk, you get tea, not Coca-Cola.Similarly, if you vote for the BJP, you will only get violence and riots and corruption, nothing else. > if you vote for the B.J.P., you will only get violence and riots and corruption. You will not get anything else. ## Electoral irregularities cast doubt on past results The BJP won its first-ever victory in West Bengal state assembly elections this year.In two hundred and ninety-four seats, the voter cleanup removed nearly three million voters. ## Muslim voters targeted in Uttar Pradesh Samyun Khan, a young activist, was detained on October twelfth during a march on the Supreme Court. ## Youth believe Kumar is Modi's life force Cockroach Janta Party leaders believe Prime Minister Modi's life force resides in Gyanesh Kumar, the election commission head, like a king's life force in a parrot. ## Youth courage against state might The BJP has the might of the state and a huge war chest. The youth join the battle with their courage and their cunning, fighting for electoral accountability and democratic rights against overwhelming institutional power. ## Key takeaway Indian students mobilized as the Cockroach Janta Party after a chief justice called unemployed youth cockroaches, forcing the education minister's resignation and now demanding accountability over mass voter roll deletions.