Youth can never be a disregarded entity. They are an integral part of any society.
By Neelima Mathur | India
Too early to tell but one never knows.
The Chief Justice of India may rue the day, May 15, 2026, when he used Cockroach as a metaphor. Albeit he said it in context of some kind of youth in India. From June 26, 2026, all kind of youth took it as an aspersion on themselves. It was bound to happen.
Cockroaches have some distinct characteristics.
They are one of the oldest insects with an intriguing resilience in the face of adversity. They are said to play the role of decomposers in ecosystems.
Youth can – or should??? – Never be a disregarded entity. They are an integral part of any society. Bypassing the tempting references to Indian philosophies appropriated into political domains, why not a Greek historical comparison? In Politics of Youth in Greek Tragedy, Matthew Shipton looks at the portrayal of youth in seven Attic Tragedies, reflecting BCE and post BCE eras. They evoke concepts about Anxiety of the potentially Destabilizing Effect of Youth on Society; the Disastrous Consequences of the Failure to properly Negotiate Inter-generational relations; and the gradual Evolution Away from Vertical Family Relationships towards Horizontal Age-Group relationships over time.
Videos and various social media content during the nearly one-month long youth protests have overt or nuanced indicators of an evolving trend in an ancient society. They reflect a frank and fearless move away from patriarchal, hierarchical, caste and class-based norms. In a civilizational context, for this nation, it borders on disrespect and shamelessness. A huge shift in acceptable public stance and display of it. The Prime Minister’s last public message (on July 31, 2026) of ‘forgiving’ these ‘children’ may not cut ice.
Cockroaches are formidable pests difficult to control
There was enough social media that voiced the presence of youth protestors, who were going against the grain of their own family vote-bank trend. However minimal, the protests that spread to at least four other cities included one of particular interest in this case. Ahmedabad, a city in the state that has been the strong foundation stone of the present Prime Minister.
How is Indian governance responding in the face of something that is still an unknown phenomenon? At one point 18 metro stations with access to the protest site were shut down. Internet access was restricted. Courier services in a fixed radius were in-operational. Food joints in similar radius were asked to shut down very early in the evening. There is enough visual history that severe police action was taken on protestors as tension escalated. In the parallel, a long hunger strike by a famous dissident was underway.
Protests can wither away or be quelled. Or escalate.
At Tiananmen Square (China) in 1989, a Beijing-centered student-led movement called out for democracy and free speech. It drew an estimated 1.2 million demonstrators. Then…there was a military crackdown.
March for Our Lives in USA, in 2018, is considered the largest student-led protest in U.S. history. Along with global sister marches, it advocated gun control. An estimated 1.2 to 2 million people had marched to Washington, D.C… Then…came the era of a brassy blonde-haired gun pusher.
Cockroaches possess survival mechanisms for persistence adapting to diverse environments even across mass extinctions and upheavals.
Without in any way romanticizing the recent youth protests in India, the responses to it are running to form – as usual. Fascinating. Typical. Expected.
The Cockroach Janta Party – CJP (official name of the party launched by the youth – Janta = People) is running a secret agenda for another political party. One that had similarly held anti-corruption (and land acquisition law) sit-ins at Jantar Mantar in 2011/12 & 2015, before forming a political party in 2012. A couple of CJP leaders have officially stated their previous association, now stating no connection.
The natural fall-out is natural . The leader of the party formed in 2012 and his close associate were publicly held up for receiving foreign funds from a famous United States ‘public interest’ organization. The allegations of dubious Deep State engagement (Indian and foreign) in civil rights movements to cause disruption rumbled for a while. Within days of the protest ending, similar rumblings are already in place for the leaders of CJP. “Bik gayaa’ (sold out) is a common refrain for the young leader at the top.
The CJP leader has quipped that if foreign funds have reached him, the Home Minister should resign. His plea: How did these funds reach him under the eye of the minister.
Meanwhile, justifications aside, like most countries in the world, India too is now a surveillance state. Facial recognition is a great tool in the hands of power. Tracking is leading to persons of interest across boundaries outside New Delhi. There are mixed signals about detainment and arrests. In the blur, no one has any concrete numbers on arrests, harassment, violation of rights.
According to the World Health Organization, cockroaches are classified as “unhygienic scavengers in human settlements,” and crushing them increases the risk of spreading the diseases they carry.
What is uncontrollable is the echo chamber on social media. The silence of mainstream was deafening during the protest. Shortly after the protest started, the CJP beat the algorithm matrix the ruling party had been reigning over. The Megaliths of social media like Meta are embroiled with the government. It is a web of data requests, shadow-banning, content removal and more. Including one major hitch when the Prime Minister’s fire-fighting late night address selfie video went down briefly.
It matters not. Nothing does in the world of social media. CJP stands around 27 million followers. Way ahead of the ruling party with about 10 million. Meanwhile, rap stars like Garam Kalakar go happily viral with ‘What Did You See in Jantar Mantar Part 1, 2.
In the real world, activists and lawyers of every hue are running hither and thither. Petitions, information demands, legal redressals for any and every one – directly or remotely connected with CJP – arrested, under detention, missing, injured. Anything that could make up a fabric of the Against. Needless to say, mostly the Gen Z. The youth protestors have set up a record of videos called the Protest Record.
Political analysts of standing do not belong to Gen Z. No wonder the mystique is baffling to decipher. Is this real? Is something happening? Is it a turning point or a passing phenomenon? The few CJP comments that can be accessed indicate it may not be time to take it easy. The chances that Jantar Mantar was boiling point but the pressure lid has not yet burst, cannot be brushed away. Yet.
Many factors are in play.
Forget the number of protestors at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in June 2026 or even the others in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad. An insignificant mob syndrome? Maybe. What counts is the diversity they represented. There are approximately 370 million in 18 – 29 years and 125 million in 30-35 year age groups in India. Nearly 500 million in a nation of over 1.5 billion. The maths of a voting age population is clear. Combine that with the algorithms in sway.
For those in power – and even those in opposition – an agenda is being forced upon them. The youth protest appropriated the country’s victory slogan (Jai Hind), protestors brandished copies of the Constitution, statements quoted the man considered the father of the Constitution – Ambedkar. Without stating it, the youth protests have infringed upon the vote banks of different political parties.
The national elections of India are due in 2029. Before which, nearly 16 states will have elections. The youth protest cannot but impact political strategies in them. Some in critical populous states with a telling effect that colours the face of representation in Parliament.
The survival of cockroaches is linked to an incredible reproductive capacity and cockroach populations can quickly rebound even after significant setbacks.
The impact is already visible. The ruling party is known for exhibiting strength and not backing down under pressure. In twelve years, only one minister had resigned on charges of sexual harassment. The youth protest forced the hand of government and got a minister to resign.
Even so, an unfortunate development. The new minister, rightly or wrongly carries the legacy of allegedly being a ‘defender of rapists’. A new breeding ground for the cockroaches is in the making. Between the quip about the Home Minister being responsible for foreign funds entering the country and this choice of minister.
In 2012, there were large protests over the gang rape of a girl in New Delhi. In 2024, once again, when it happened with a trainee doctor. In between, the capital saw a long persistent farmer protest on grain prices that almost bulged over. Historically, these are recent.
Looking back a bit, 1990 saw the Mandal Commission riots against job provisions for backward castes / classes. There were even several cases of self-immolation. The Mandal riots became a formidable movement against the backward classes. At that time, it led to the resignation of the Prime Minister. Later and more importantly, it completely formed, changed and dictated caste-based politics across India. Unchanged until now.
Going further back, Jayaprakash Narayan triggered a movement in the 1970s, in which, first students joined in two major states of India. By the time the movement swelled, it finally led to challenging one of India’s most powerful Prime Ministers. A state of Emergency emerged, then a call for re-election. One in which the reigning Prime Minister was ousted, establishing the first non-legacy party in government.
Difficult as it may seem to believe, Gen Z at the youth protests have not missed any of this. In a revelatory article, Jinoy Jose, Digital Editor, Frontline, explains this and many other salient features of Gen Z that have been missed.
He says that Gen Z had sub-consciously absorbed everything laid out by the previous generation. They were seeding and one word of the Chief Justice, Cockroach, turned the season for them to take root.
When you squish a cockroach, you’re not just killing it. You’re rupturing its body and releasing all the bacteria, viruses, and pathogens stored in its gut.
In all the machinations occurring now – within CJP, government, opposition – the symbol of youth is firmly embedded. One in every four Indians is between 18 to 29 years. India is nearly one-fifth of the world’s population. The dynamics are huge in terms of numbers. How presumptuous is it to, for some reason, recall Daniel Cohn Bendit? He was a key figure in the student protests of France in 1968-69 and later joined mainstream politics, including being member of the European Parliament.
The unrest of May 1968 in France started as a student protest about educational reforms. Later, it escalated when workers joined. The social relevance of education was a major point of reference. As it spread, the deep-seated discontent in French society brimmed over. Studies claim that it was a pivotal moment in the political landscape of Europe. Leading to new political actions and ideologies in response to post-industrial society.
Pestilence in The Bible: Often appears in scripture as a symbol of mass destruction or divine judgment alongside war and famine.
This story began with: Too early to tell but one never knows…India lives in 28 states and nine Union Territories across 3.28 million sq. km, with a diversity of 22 official scheduled languages, 122 major languages and innumerable dialects. A mini-Europe of sorts. At nearly 80 years of age, this Democracy, India, is still a developing country. A 2025 Study claims that 83% unemployed are under 35 years. If that is not seed enough to sprout, what is, is the question. So, we wait to see if the Cockroaches become a symbol of destruction or a spiralling channel for a much-needed new landscape.
Farewell Aside: The just-over 30-year old CJP leader is a Libran of the western Zodiac. He is in the company of Augustus Ceasar, Mughal Emperor Akbar, Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Dwight Eisenhower, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ayatollah Khomeini, Vladimir Putin, Lech Walesa, Alfred Nobel.
Watch post-article date televised interview of CJP leader:
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Read: Future Movement – Poetry from India
