NEW DELHI — Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old recent graduate in public relations from Boston University, launched a satirical political movement called the Cockroach Janta Party in New Delhi last week. The party's Instagram account gained more than 3 million followers in three days, and over 350,000 people have signed up for membership via a Google form.

The movement followed remarks by Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant during an open court hearing, in which he described individuals attacking the system as "parasites." "There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists, and they start attacking everyone," Kant said. He later clarified that his remarks related to some people acquiring fraudulent degrees and did not target India's youth, and said India's young people were the pillars of a developed India.

Dipke responded by posting the question, "What if all cockroaches come together?" Dipke said. Within 24 hours of his initial post, he built the party's online presence using AI tools including Claude and ChatGPT to design its look and manifesto, and set up a website and accounts on Instagram and X. "Those in power think citizens are cockroaches and parasites. They should know that cockroaches breed in rotten places. That's what India is today," he said.

The party describes itself as "A political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth. Secular – Socialist – Democratic – Lazy." Its eligibility criteria are being unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and able to rant professionally. The manifesto addresses alleged voter manipulation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, corporate media compliance, and the appointment of judges to government positions after retirement.

Among those who have signed up are Mahua Moitra, an opposition parliamentarian from West Bengal, and Kirti Azad, a former parliamentarian from Bihar. Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer at India's Supreme Court and rights activist, said he would have joined the party but is currently ineligible. "Chief Justice's comments reflected deep-rooted prejudice and antipathy towards activists and youth in general," Bhushan said. "This is also precisely the mentality of this present government."

India produces more than 8 million graduates annually, and the unemployment rate among Indian graduates stands at 29.1 percent, nine times higher than for those who never attended school. More than a quarter of India's population is Generation Z, the largest age cohort in the world. A week before, nationwide protests by young students over exam paper leaks forced the cancellation of a government-run medical entrance test.