Modi's New Headache: ‘Cockroaches’ On Indian Streets

Indian Chief Justice Surya Kant was unaware that his satirical remarks about unemployed youth, referring to them as "cockroaches" on May 15, would initiate a shift in the country's political landscape, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has been facing increasing pressure from Gen Z, evidenced by successful protests in recent months against the government's handling of various issues.

The next day after Kant's comments, Gen-Z, led by Abhijeet Dipke, founded the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) online to respond to the chief justice's satirical remarks with youth aged 15 to 29, who account for nearly 381 million of India's 1.477 billion population, by joining it on a massive scale. In the following weeks, it eclipsed the BJP's online followers and became the most popular "party" on Instagram, surpassing the 25 million followers’ mark.

After a series of challenges from these “cockroaches” forced the government to give in to their demands, including calls for the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam paper leaks, the latest controversy centers on the exclusion of 130 million people from voter lists. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of deliberately removing names from the electoral rolls to benefit Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP in the upcoming state elections.

The latest protests began on September 23 in New Delhi and spread to other parts of the country. The demonstrators are demanding Kumar’s resignation and a thorough investigation into the revised voter lists. Protesters in several states have accused the election chief of targeting Muslims. As protests continue, including the latest one at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, reports have emerged of thousands of arrests, with The Indian Express citing approximately 7,000 demonstrators. However, almost all of them have been released, according to the latest media reports, with only six Congress activists jailed for damaging the facade of the chief election commissioner’s ancestral home in Agra city.

- Protests over revised voter lists — Muslims targeted

Protests against the Election Commission began in July 2025 in the eastern India state of Bihar, which has a population of over 133 million, following the release of revised voter lists. The electoral authority said removing duplicate entries, deceased voters, people who had migrated, and ineligible registrations was a routine exercise aimed at ensuring transparency in the voting system. The electoral authority stated that the process identified about 2 million deceased voters, 2.8 million people who had permanently moved from their registered addresses, 700,000 voters registered at multiple locations, and approximately 1.5 million cases in which voter registrations had not been returned.

However, the controversy emerged in August 2025 when opposition leader from the Congress party Rahul Gandhi alleged that the 2024 general elections were manipulated through fraudulent voter registrations, and accused the election commission of helping the ruling BJP. He cited the Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Karnataka as an example, alleging thousands of duplicate voter entries, photographs that did not match, and invalid addresses. He also claimed that 10,452 voters were registered at shared addresses.

A renewed protest began in September, demanding Kumar's resignation after the electoral authority reportedly removed 130 million names from the voter list following a nationwide revision exercise. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh recorded the largest number of voters’ exclusion, while Delhi had the highest deletion rate. Opposition parties claim the exercise disadvantages their supporters, including minority communities and Muslims, and demand greater transparency in the revision process.

The most compelling evidence of disproportionate removal of Muslim voters comes from the eastern state of West Bengal, while current reports do not provide a valid statewide total of Muslim names eliminated. However, the regional political party Trinamool Congress (TMC) stated that 3.1 million Muslim voters have been purged from the revised voters list. While Indian media outlets reported that nearly 1.9 million Muslims accounted for 70.2% of the 2.7 million voters declared ineligible in the released lists, Al Jazeera reported that Muslims made up almost 34% of the voters removed, despite accounting for approximately 27% of the state’s population.

In the western Maharashtra state, 29.77% of voters were marked as “uncollectable” in 38 constituencies where Muslims made up more than one-fifth of the population. The figure was significantly higher than the statewide rate of 21.14%. While in Bihar, according to The Hindu newspaper, roughly 970,000 Muslims, or 18.4% of the approximately 5.28 million names, were erased.

- Modi sees problems ahead

Next year, there will be elections for seven state legislatures, with Uttar Pradesh serving as a major test for the ruling BJP to see if the controversy translates into political consequences. Though the BJP has been ruling the state for over 74 consecutive years, another win would not automatically settle questions surrounding the revised voters’ lists. A defeat, however, could intensify pressure on the Hindu nationalist party, both within the state and the entire country.

The latest protests over the revised voters’ lists have brought together the “Cockroach” party, mostly Gen Z, particularly student activists, opposition parties, and civil society groups. However, the movement’s long-term impact will depend on whether they can maintain their unity and turn public anger into sustained political movement.

Modi’s government could face a crisis of credibility, but several key indicators will shape the situation ahead of the elections: whether protests continue, how the judiciary responds, and whether eligible voters’ names are restored to the electoral rolls. New Delhi appears to be standing by the election commissioner. If elections proceed using the revised lists, the government could face mounting criticism that electoral authority was misused to benefit the BJP.

- Economic issues and Gen Z

Although India’s unemployment rate has declined, according to an official annual survey, many young people are unhappy with the quality and security of jobs, low wages, and intense competition for government jobs. According to recent official data released in August, only 5% of the population is unemployed, indicating a gradual improvement over the previous years.

Though the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) projected Indian GDP growth of 6.3% in fiscal year 2026–27, it warned that rising energy costs and inflation could weigh on consumer consumption and employment. The increasing cost of living, including food, housing, education, and other household expenses, can put pressure on people’s incomes and eventually can generate more anti-government sentiments.

If the Gen Z protests continue beyond the controversy over amended election lists, the "Cockroach" movement may attract job seekers, students, and working-class people to join them in their opposition to the Modi government. Whereas, opposition parties, which continued to lose elections to the BJP in the center as well as in the states’ elections in the last 13 years, may take advantage of the situation and convert public frustration into a common political goal against the hardline Hindu national party.

Though Modi's government has promoted economic growth, infrastructure, and investment, Gen Z are critical of New Delhi’s policies and argue that it failed to match public expectations of creating more employment opportunities. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) India Employment Report 2024 points to a deeper economic problem than whether unemployment is rising or falling, with the real question being whether economic growth is creating enough stable jobs that pay young people decent wages.

By Shafiq Ahmad