‘Cockroach’ youth group founder leads first street protest after arrival in India
Key takeaways
- A few hundred protesters gathered near Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi as police barricaded some of the surrounding roads.
- Hundreds of thousands of students have joined the movement in just a few days, Dipke said at the protest site. “Cockroach Janta Party is not a planned party.
- Modi’s government has blocked the movement’s X account, opens new tab in the country, a move the group has challenged in a Delhi court.
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Add ARY News on Google AAResize NEW DELHI: The founder of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party led a street protest in New Delhi on Saturday demanding the resignation of the federal education minister, taking the online youth movement from social media to the streets for the first time in a show of dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Abhijeet Dipke, 30, who has lived in the United States for the past two years and had not previously travelled to India since forming the movement, carried a copy of India’s constitution as he left New Delhi’s international airport for the protest site, greeted by hundreds of supporters chanting his name.
The group, which has amassed over 22 million Instagram followers since launching in mid-May, is the largest online expression of dissent against the Hindu nationalist Modi’s 12-year rule, fuelled by persistently high youth unemployment.