“While the CJP-led Gen Z protest did not result in regime change like in Nepal and Bangladesh, it has shaken the Modi government’s 12 years’ complete control over democratic institutions and its refusal to engage with the opposition and civil society,” argues Niranjan Sahoo, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and a member of the ICDR and the Forum 2000 Foundation’s Program Council. “The social and political transformation of India is running in parallel with economic progress – and with generational change,” writes Manjeet Kripalani, executive director at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.
Niranjan Sahoo
ICDR and Forum 2000 Program Council member, senior fellow, ORF, India
Manjeet Kripalani
Executive Director, Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, India
Niranjan Sahoo
ICDR and Forum 2000 Program Council member, senior fellow, ORF, India
While most countries in South Asia witnessed Gen-Z protests in some form or other (in some cases, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, violent protests led to a change of regime), the region’s biggest country, India, which has a massive youth population, somehow escaped this. In fact, many commentators had been very dismissive of the idea that a large and diverse country like India would witness protests similar to those in Nepal and Bangladesh. To everyone’s surprise, in mid-May, India witnessed one of the most intense Gen-Z protest movements in South Asia, which lasted for more than a month and a half and brought one of the region’s strongest governments to its knees, forcing it to concede all the key demands of the protestors, particularly the removal of India’s education minister.[1]
While hearing a petition on 15 May, the Chief Justice of India, Mr. Surya Kant, made very disparaging remarks in which he compared some unemployed youth in law to “cockroaches” and also referred to “parasites” in society who “attack the system.” He said that some unemployed young people were turning to journalism, social media and activism and “attacking everyone.”[2] This crass statement enraged many, particularly younger Indians. On 16 May, Abhijeet Dipke, a Boston University graduate created a parody party called the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, ridiculing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)[3] to protest against Mr. Kant’s dehumanizing remarks. Little had Dipke realized that what he mockingly put out on social media to roil the chief justice would garner such an unprecedented response from the country’s youth. Within five days, CJP’s Instagram account had attracted more than 15 million followers, easily surpassing BJP’s social media followers (8.7 million).[4] The unprecedented response to the satirical CJP created considerable anxiety and much panic in the ruling establishment, which promptly cited national-security concerns to block CJP’s social media handles.[5] This, however, led to much greater outrage, which resulted in the launch of a dozen new accounts in the name of CJP, while the issues they raised became an instant hit among young people.[6] The CJP led to a flood of memes, parodies, reels, and cartoons mocking politicians and the ruling party for its failures on many fronts, particularly its glaring failure over the nationwide examination for admission to medical schools (NEET), which was cancelled following a paper leak. In early June, the movement finally took the form of street protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
After receiving no response from the government for weeks, the protest entered a new phase on June 28, when noted educationist and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk went on hunger strike to press the demand for the resignation of the education minister. As the days progressed, the hunger protest acquired greater national attention, as more and more people started pouring in from all parts of the country. Despite its best efforts (prohibitory measures, an internet shutdown, massive propaganda warfare, strong police actions), Narendra Modi’s government couldn’t stop the movement. A brutal police crackdown on peaceful protesters on 20 July near Parliament Street and Jantar Mantar triggered a massive backlash against the government, as the movement spread to dozens of cities, ultimately forcing the Modi government to accept the protesters’ key demand: the removal of the education minister. While it did not lead to the collapse of the government, as similar movements have done elsewhere in South Asia, what this protest has done is huge in terms of shaking the foundations of an authoritarian government that had, over the years, refused any accountability, squeezed the democratic space, subverted key democratic institutions, and used every state tool to suppress dissent and deny responsiveness.[7]
Key Triggers of the Gen-Z Protest
While the Chief Justice’s statement triggered the protest, there is a constellation of factors that converged to produce an unprecedented anti-government response from Gen Z via the CJP.
First, growing frustration over price rises fueled by energy supply disruptions, a rapid decline in tech jobs in recent years, and widening youth unemployment despite India’s high growth trajectory were the core factors that triggered the protest.[8] As per a recent report,[9] there has been a steady decline in decent jobs, making as much as 40 per cent of youth (aged 15-25) unemployed. While India has witnessed a massive expansion of higher education in recent decades, job creation in secure and regular work segments have not kept pace with the expansion. Only a small proportion of graduates secure permanent salaried jobs within a year, forcing many to turn to informal gig work or low-paying jobs.
Second, the protests were also sparked by a paper leak involving the national medical entrance examination (NEET), which attracts millions of students every year.[10] This incident angered millions of students and their parents over the glaring failures of the Education <inistry to check such paper leaks. When a 17-year student exposed errors in the evaluation of examination papers for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), it added fuel to the fire. Such glitches, which the 17-year student highlighted on social media, further angered millions of students, who blamed the Education Ministry for compromising the exam system.[11]
In short, the Modi government’s indifference and lack of accountability over a series of exam irregularities and its glaring failure to address broader crises in higher education (where most degrees no longer lead to a decent job) fueled the discontent. Not only did the education minister fail to provide any clear answer to frequent paper leaks and prevailing corrupt practices, the ruling party spokespersons and their social media outlets called protestors “Pakistani Agents” and people funded by “Soros.” Thus, the government’s callous handling of the issue, lack of ownership in addressing the leaky exam system, and its diversionary tactics in passing the blame on others invited unprecedented rage among the youth, particularly on social media. In no time, the internet was flooded with millions of memes, cartoons, and reels mocking Prime Minister Modi.
Implications for Democratic Accountability
While the CJP-led Gen Z protest did not result in regime change like in Nepal and Bangladesh, it has shaken the Modi government’s 12 years’ complete control over democratic institutions and its refusal to engage with the opposition and civil society. Not only was it forced to shunt out a key minister, but it also rushed to remove several education officials and pass a bill to address paper leaks. The Gen Z rage and the CJP’s popularity have spurred a dormant political opposition into action, prompting it to mobilize a series of street protests over the Modi government’s exam irregularities and lack of accountability.
Yet, its most consequential impact is that the success of the Gen-Z protest has energized civic spaces, where not only young people can be seen freely mocking Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues (using hilarious, profane memes and videos[12]), but thousands of young people who earlier spent their time engaged in digital activism have taken charge of local issues such as school education and government accountability in their areas. The impact of the CJP protest is spreading like wildfire (in a decentralized fashion, like a million mutinies) across the country, where even school children are protesting over sanitation, absentee teachers, and the poor quality of facilities.[13] In short, the protest has done much to reduce the “fear of the regime”[14] as people who earlier feared the repressive tactics of the regime are now asking hard questions about the performance of the government and its accountability, something that has been missing for more than 12 years.
A further, unexpected outcome of the Gen Z protest is that it has reopened the lost debates on health of democracy in India.[15] For instance, the CJP-led protest has opened the door to restoring missing conversations about the role of the media, judiciary, and Election Commission, as well as about free and fair elections. Spurred by CJP activism, young people are now openly talking about compromised democratic institutions, such as the courts and the Election Commission, as well as the media, which acts more like the government’s lapdog, and the about the need to change the composition of parliament and assemblies.[16] The media (which is increasingly owned and controlled by large businesses) is visibly under heavy pressure thanks to intense criticism of its partisan role in covering up[17] the government’s failures in the past. Declining viewership and mounting criticisms of the media’s partisan role are already pushing some of outlets undertake damage control.
Another unexpected positive outcome of this protest is that it has hugely lessened the deepening polarization and divisions in the polity and society. The Gen-Z protests over the course of 50 days witnessed open bonding and communal harmony among young people belonging to different religions. While Muslims wearing skull caps and Sikhs in their traditional attire were happily embraced by the Hindus, the young protesters effectively countered the ruling party’s desperate and all-out efforts to communalize the protest. Scores of hate speeches were countered with humorous memes and cartoons by tech-savvy young protestors.[18] The positive and secular spirit demonstrated by Gen Z protestors attracted a multitude of civil society actors and pressure groups, such as farmers unions, minority organizations, left-leaning organizations, human rights and democracy defenders, to make a common cause with the youth and their demands.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/25/dharmendra-pradhan-india-education-minister-resigns-cockroach-movement
[2] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/oral-remarks-and-institutional-limits/article71002054.ece
[3] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cockroach-janta-party-10-million-followers-on-instagram-bjp-followers-cji-remarks-genz-youth-2914805-2026-05-21
[4] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cockroach-janta-party-10-million-followers-on-instagram-bjp-followers-cji-remarks-genz-youth-2914805-2026-05-21
[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddpq71866do
[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz72y11jjq1o
[7] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/26/india-cockroach-protest-victory-signals-trouble-ahead-for-narendra-modi
[8] https://www.indiatoday.in/jobs/story/tech-related-hiring-in-india-at-all-time-low-software-engineers-hit-hardest-study-tchc-2932510-2026-06-23
[9] State of Working India 2026 report, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/news/2026/state-of-working-india-2026-indias-young-workforce-is-growing-and-getting-more-educated
[10] Frontline, May 26, 2026. https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/neet-leak-opposition-unity/article71017387.ece
[11] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy42e8eljpno
[12] https://time.com/article/2026/08/01/cockroaches-protests-gen-z-india-delhi-narendra-modi-prime-minister/
[13] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/gen-alpha-genz-protests-india-students-demand-roads-toilets-teachers-school-children-2969682-2026-08-13
[14] https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/cjp-gen-z-protest-india/article71305131.ece
[15] https://www.thehindu.com/society/independence-day-india-community-democracy-protests-citizens-gen-z/article71331201.ece
[16] https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/cockroach-janta-party-gen-z-political-mobilisation-india/article71041637.ece
[17] https://www.thenewsminute.com/news/how-indias-media-lost-its-nerve-and-its-money-under-pm-modi
[18] https://time.com/article/2026/08/01/cockroaches-protests-gen-z-india-delhi-narendra-modi-prime-minister/
Manjeet Kripalani
Executive Director, Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, India
In April this year, elections were held in four Indian states and the Union Territory of Puducherry. One of them was West Bengal, the eastern state that is home to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), once the capital of British India. After 34 years of communist-led Left Front rule, followed by 15 years of Trinamool Congress government, West Bengal turned to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which promised economic progress and went on to win a resounding majority.
Immediately after the new government was sworn in, intellectuals in the state and at the center began working together on a plan to restore Bengal’s economic strength and its prominent role within India. Everyone remembers that in the 18th and 19th centuries, Murshidabad, then the capital of the combined regions of Bihar, Bengal, and Odisha, was a major trading hub that is estimated to have accounted for around 5% of global GDP at its peak. It connected the Mughal and British empires with Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The area was home to the House of Jagat Seth, a powerful Jain banking and merchant family who financed the Mughals, the British, and local kingdoms alike, and presided over a vast international trading and financial network. The hereditary title Jagat Seth meant “Banker of the World,” while the family’s extraordinary wealth and influence led them to be described as the Medicis of Asia. [1]
There will be many bold efforts to bring that Bengal back and reconnect it with the Indian mainstream – as part of India’s determination to regain a leading position in the global economic and civilizational order. Economics is, of course, central, but so is the role of women in India. In West Bengal, women turned out to vote at a higher rate than men, contributing to an overall turnout of around 93%, up from some 82% in the previous Legislative Assembly election. The gender gap in turnout was significant across the state: women’s participation reached 93.24%, compared with 91.74% for men.[2] In the 2024 national elections, 642 million people voted, including 312 million women – the highest-ever number of female voters in a single Indian election.[3]
This is partly a result of policy responsiveness: women’s needs and rights have increasingly been placed at the center of government programs. The goal is to bring women to the forefront of economic and social life, to educate them and enable them to join the workforce – an area in which China has long had an advantage over India. The effort to bring women into the mainstream cuts across social classes, and the evidence is visible everywhere.
In villages, women now receive subsidized cooking gas instead of having to rely on solid fuels and risk chronic respiratory problems. Many have piped water at home, saving them long journeys to village wells. The domestic terror associated with left-wing extremism, or Naxalism, whose cadres have waged an insurgency against the government and civilians for decades, has been greatly reduced – and former women fighters are being rehabilitated. In August, in the city of Raipur, former women commanders walked the ramp[4] at a well-attended fashion show featuring Indian handlooms and traditional textiles.
At the highest levels, a recent judgment by the Supreme Court of India clarified that the principle of primogeniture[5] – still followed in some families descended from India’s former princely states and other titled aristocratic families – concerns succession to the title or throne, rather than automatically determining succession to private property. Such property is governed by the applicable succession law rather than simply passing to the eldest male heir. The ruling has been widely seen as another step towards greater equality between male and female heirs.
This social and political transformation of India is running in parallel with economic progress – and with generational change. It is a phenomenon occurring on a scale rarely seen in world history. India, home to roughly one-sixth of humanity, has a very young population, with around 65% of its 1.4 billion people under the age of 35. While this is positive for domestic consumer growth, it also puts the government under pressure to provide quality education and employment opportunities for its young population. India’s demographic situation invites comparisons with China, whose working-age population peaked at around 925 million in 2011.[6] China, however, was able to channel a huge labor force into its large-scale manufacturing sector, which had developed with substantial foreign investment and strong state direction.
Democratic India does not have the same tools. It has to rely on free markets and the private sector to create jobs and help expand the education system, while the state must provide the necessary infrastructure – something New Delhi has recently begun to do on a much larger scale. It can be a combustible combination, especially when youthful aspirations are high. This is also the first time in the country’s history that an entire generation is becoming educated – and increasingly articulate. Recent student protests in Delhi and Jharkhand over leaks in national examination papers, which can determine access to coveted colleges and, subsequently, employment opportunities, reflect these pressures.
India’s adults – in government and in the private sector alike – are now on notice. The country has to rapidly and simultaneously improve agricultural productivity and rural opportunities, create new manufacturing jobs, and make smart choices about investment in new, potentially life-changing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Some of the effort is already visible. Government-backed initiatives, such as YUVAi have been providing AI-skills training to school students from Class 8 onwards while also involving teachers.[7]
Although India entered the global AI race relatively late, it is preparing to become a serious player.
And it can succeed, judging by its fintech sector. A decade ago, India introduced the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), building on a digital infrastructure that links payments with bank accounts and the country’s Aadhaar identity system. This helped bring millions of previously unbanked people into the formal financial system, reduce transaction costs and leakages, and enable government benefits to be transferred directly to beneficiaries. It also helped small entrepreneurs and businesses flourish. India is now the world leader in digital payments, with UPI accounting for around 49% of global real-time payment transaction volume.[8]
In AI, both the public and private sectors are becoming increasingly active. India’s giant IT services companies are moving beyond traditional back-office work and applying AI for global clients as they modernize and integrate new AI systems. Younger Indian entrepreneurs are building home-grown foundational models such as Sarvam, seeking greater technological sovereignty as they recognize AI as a strategic technology. New Delhi is investing in the broader AI ecosystem, including electricity capacity, semiconductor and other hardware capabilities, data centers, foundational models and applications, as well as entrepreneurs and start-ups. Experts expect India to close much of the gap with the current leaders over the next decade.
For many around the world, especially in Europe, India offers a potential third way. It is neither the model of US corporate dominance nor that of Chinese state supremacy, but one of solutions developed at home for a young population – solutions that are relatively non-threatening, frugal, and transparent, and perhaps soon globally competitive as well.
[1] https://www.gatewayhouse.in/will-bengal-turn-inward-or-outward/
[2] Election Commission of India, 2026 West Bengal Assembly election data.
[3] Election Commission of India, General Election 2024 statistics.
[4] https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/former-naxal-women-walk-ramp-in-traditional-sarees-for-national-handloom-day-symbolise-successful-rehabilitation-101786608776550.html
[5] https://www.caseon.in/case/tikka-shatrujit-singh-ors-vs-sukjit-singh-anr
[6] China’s working-age population peaked at approximately 925 million in 2011.
[7] https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1984773&lang=2®=48
[8] https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2257087®=3&lang=2
The views expressed in these works are the responsibility of its authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forum 2000 Foundation or its staff.
