How India's 'cockroach' party sparked a protest movement | Global News Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Global News. podcast from the BBC. I'm Charlotte. Gallagher and today we're joined by our. Global Affairs reporter Anbarasan. Ethirajan. And Anbarasan, there have. been huge protests in India organized by. this up-and-coming opposition party who. are called the Cockroach Janata Party. Can you tell me more about them? >> So, the root cause of this was during a. court case hearing, the India Supreme. Court Chief Justice mentioned a section.

of youth. being cockroaches and parasites. And. that was when one of the founders of. this movement, Abhijit Dipke, he was a. post-graduate student in the US at that. time, he was mentioning, "How about all the. cockroaches come together?" And that. generated a lot of response on social. media because. a lot of people, youth, they resonated. with what he said. So, that started as. the Cockroach Janata Party on a social. media as a symbol and it was like a. cockroach.

wearing a suit. Basically, what this. means is, you know, there is a general. belief that cockroaches are. it cannot be destroyed even in a nuclear. warfare or something even though it's. not scientifically proven, but that's. that's about the resilience. And then. within, you know, weeks, there were. millions of followers and many people. joined this social media. movement and that triggered this. Cockroach Janata Party. Even though they. are not a political party yet, it is a. more like a movement. So, Mr. Dipke came.

back to India and then he organized. protests in several Indian cities and. their main demand was. asking for educational reforms and also. the sacking of India's federal education. minister because paper leaks were one of. the key entrance exam for medical. colleges. And then well-known Indian. activist from the Ladakh region, Sonam Wangchuk, joined the protest a few. weeks ago and that started as a. a hunger strike, indefinite hunger.

strike. Mr. Wongchuk was on a hunger. strike for nearly 20 days. After that, he was removed by police and admitted to. a hospital because his health was. deteriorating. Now, uh today the the protesters, I mean, more than expected, uh thousands of. these young people, what you call Gen Z, uh they were marching towards Parliament. because it's very key day for Parliament. session, monsoon session starting today. And there were allegations that that was. a baton charge and also tear gas. And.

what we understand is now the protest. leaders have met uh government ministers. and they are now trying to wind down. this protest. >> So, why are so many young people in. India so fed up and taking to the. streets? >> Well, this started as a satirical. movement attracting these uh millions of. youth because they have a reason, because they feel that they're not part. of this India's success story, India's. economic growth. Now, India has a. population of about more than 360.

million youth population, one of the. highest in the world. Now, every year. India brings out about 5 million. graduates. Now, how do you find jobs for. these people? You know, more than a half of them get. jobs, whereas the other half, they try. to find jobs in other sectors. So, there. are these So, the overall unemployment. is low, probably about 5 5.5%, but then. the youth unemployment, it goes up to 16. and one report said it can among the. graduates go and go up to 40%. So,

India's grown, India's economy has. grown, but how far this is translating. into jobs? That's the main question. Now, these entrance exams or exams for. government jobs, they're highly sought. after because that gives you stability. and protection and security. Now, many. of these youth people, the young people. are worried that these exams are being. compromised because of corruption or. somebody influential. That's one of the. reasons why the youth they want to say.

something like we want something that is. a transparent at the same time done in a. proper way. Now, there are lots of jobs, but how many of the young people with. the graduates getting the right kind of. jobs which can change their livelihood. There are 2 million people in the gig. economy delivering food. Is it going to. change them economically? Yes, it can. provide them some job, some food, but. what it did not translate was people's. aspiration. Whether people can get the. jobs they want so that for their.

qualification they can get improve their. life and get better jobs. >> Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP, have dominated Indian politics for a. decade now. So, can an opposition. movement like the Cockroach Janata Party. have an impact? >> Well, what happened today was a clear. reminder to the government that the. youth in the country or a section of the. youth are not happy. But of course, if. you want to convert that into a. political party and then taking part.

in the election, that is altogether a. different story because India is a huge. country with different states, different. languages. So, how do you recognize. yourself as a political party? That is a. big challenge. Even mainstream political. parties are struggling to counter the. governing BJP. on Mr. Narendra Modi because you know, for the last 10 to 12 years he has been. winning successive elections, various. state elections. He is still very. popular among a section of the.

population. So, this movement and how. far it is going to grow, whether it is. going to have more protests you know, in. different parts of the country, you. know, that is what these movement. leaders are now discussing about. How do. you take this forward? You know, they. were surprised and in fact, they were. pleasantly surprised by the reaction, what has happened, how many people, millions of people want to follow them. But taking it forward and challenging. the government is a totally a different. ballgame and that is where many of these.

opposition parties, they come into the. picture. >> These youth movements, these Gen Z. protests have been sweeping across South. Asia. I mean, how did it all start and. how much impact have they had? >> Well, if you see what happened in. countries like the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. and Nepal, definitely there were a lot. of talks on social media, how come this. is not happening in India because the. youth are facing huge issues, there is a. corruption issue here, then the. governance also is an issue here and.

also people are worried about how far. they can express themselves freely. Is. there, you know, any kind of actions. against expressing dissent on what about. the freedom of the press? These are some. of the questions raised by some of the. youth leaders. But now, if you look at. Bangladesh, what happened a couple of. years ago, a student movement later. turned into a wider anti-government. protest movement because there were also. issues about the brutality of the. government, the alleged excesses by the. security forces and also about a.

corruption issues. Again, the same issue. happened in Nepal. Whereas, what started. as a small movement, it spread across. social media attracting tens of. thousands of people that led to even. government change. The governments were. toppled, the regime changes were. happening. But if you see what happened. in Sri Lanka or in Bangladesh and Nepal. Now, how far this will happen in India. because these people, they drew. inspiration looking at how the Gen Z or. Gen Z protesters were able to make a.

point, make an impact in the what the. future of the country. But here, they. started as a movement where they were. only asking for educational reforms. They're not asking for the overall. government to resign. What they're. asking is the education minister should. resign because these exams, they are. very critical for the especially for the. aspiring middle class. It can change the. life for better. If you become a doctor, that is a dream for any of the family. members. If you become an engineer or.

get a. post within the army, there are so many. exams where millions of people write. these exams. So, initially the what. started as, you know, we want a very. transparent process, a process which can. be verified, which everyone can believe. in that. That it was the main slogan for. this movement. But now, if you look at. what happened, how far it is going to. inspire others, whether it can continue, at this point it is difficult to say, but definitely they have made their. point to the government.

>> Ambarsan, thank you. That was Ambarsan. Ethirajan. And if you would like to hear. more from the Global News podcast, please click the link below. Thanks for. watching.