‘Every joke is a tiny revolution’
- George Orwell
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical outfit born superficially out of a single remark made by the Chief Justice of India, but in reality created as the symbol of anti-incumbency and widespread government discontent that defines the Generation Z, or more commonly known as Gen Z, called off its agitation on 25th July, 2026 after securing a historic resignation of (now former) Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
CJP’s journey, right from the very start (that is, to say, on Twitter), has been a tumultuous tale of courts, cockroaches, confusion, criticism, condemnation, curiosity and chaos.
Within this chaos formed an organisation that resounded so deeply with the young minds of India that they managed to achieve something the opposition and the public collectively have failed to do in the last 12 years — a Union Minister’s resignation in the World’s Largest Democracy.
Online and in the streets, this resignation has been hailed as a definite victory of students and ‘Gen Z ‘. This, along with the fulfilment of the CJP’s other demands, including compensation of 1 Cr. Indian Rupees for the NEET aspirants who committed suicide and a promise of no legal action against the protestors, is what led to the end of the nearly 50-day-long agitation.
But immediately after the protest was called off, the internet was flooded with questions no one had any clear answers to — Does one resignation solve everything? Is the fight over? Is everything going back to normal?
The answers are perhaps more subjective, more complex, and more ambiguous than the language the internet allows for.
The resignation, of course, is largely considered a symbolic triumph. The proof that India is still a democracy where the government listens to its citizens, albeit by force, and where elected representatives must be subject to accountability. The government has also brought and passed amendments to the Paper Leak Bill, and established fast-track courts.
Clearly, change is evident in the air, perhaps for the first time in an extremely long time. But will this change last the test of time? That question remains.
Leaders may come and go, parties, pressure groups and organisations may fall apart, but resistance and agitation are sustained so long as the ideas survive amongst the masses.
In the age of social media, as has been the case in all ages before it, ideas become increasingly easier to control.
Governments, rulers, dictators, and monarchs — all the people in power are adept at providing bread and circuses at the right times. Such is the case with the distractions we witness, always after an attempt at widespread agitation.
But once the conscience of a society is awakened, is that all it takes to silence it again?
For years, India has witnessed corruption, crime, and lax government actions with no consequences for the perpetrators. For years, the opposition has largely failed to keep the democratic spirit alive. What changed?
Was it the one statement by the country’s CJI? The 21 student suicides after NEET cancellation? The government’s apathy or perhaps the lack of public sympathy?
Anyone following online trends can tell you what the Indian youth’s reaction was to the political revolutions in Nepal and Bangladesh. Slightly critical regarding some methods, but largely supportive and laced with a sense of missing out that exceeds relatability. There were calls, made jokingly or seriously — that’s for one’s own conscience to know to implement similar power overhauls in India.
There was a sense of desperation, of people yearning to raise their voices, to fight the “good” fight. This is, partially, what culminated into the CJP, and ultimately the events which unfolded on the 20th of July.
Anti-incumbency and such demands are nothing new; it’s perhaps a pattern as old as power itself. The difference this time is how the raw beginnings, unfiltered voices and unedited visuals have reached a huge part of the country’s population in unprecedented amounts of time.
Social media makes it easier to monitor expression, but harder to silence it. A vigilant citizenry makes it nearly impossible. Vigilant citizens also make democratic institutions powerful against dismantling.
But what use is such a citizenry in a country where lawmakers walk out of parliaments, where Instagram is always divided, either along regional, religious or caste lines, and where institutions forget all checks and balances to instead work for protecting the government itself?
What use are promises from a regime that has now appointed an education minister who himself states the subject is ‘new’ for him, who has a record of defending overturned convictions of rapists, who is already linked to corruption cases and who has championed religious polarisation? The same regime that has now failed to ensure smooth proceedings of the ‘fast-track courts’, that has backtracked on promises of safety for protestors, and the regime that not just claims that the resignation was to ensure public order rather than failure of governance, but goes on to celebrate the likes of such politicians with garlands and ornaments.
This, in turn, has brought criticism at the front door of the CJP itself, this time not just from their critics but even their supporters, who now calls for them to start the protest again, or to shift the agitations to different parts of the country as well.
Another question which one must think about is whether the democratic citizenry is so weakened that it is completely reliant on a satirical outfit to demand basic rights and accountability in every case?
That being said, let us not forget the fact that these agitations, while not quite as widespread, have indeed occurred in the past within the different parts of the country. From Kashmir and the protests in Delhi against CAA-NRC laws to the farmers’ protests and outrage in Manipur, in each case the people were met with a silently spectating government, waiting for the situation to cool down, for the movement to die down on its own. The rest of the country either ignored these instances or moved on quickly, its attention span dropping as low as its press freedom rankings.
This is perhaps the first instance in recent memory of the government actively engaging in dialogues with leaders from the moment and the opposition regarding the issues, of the Prime Minister himself making an attempt (albeit through questionable methods and continuing to avoid press conferences) to connect with the youth.
So yes, change is happening. Mostly for the better, but once again government action appears pretentious, and protestors continue to be targeted, exams continue to be leaked, and democracy in India continues to fail its population of over a billion.
The ‘fight’, so to speak, is not over. It may never be, considering the fact that the democratic apparatus requires constant vigilance and action from all sides of the political spectrum.
Ultimately, it falls upon ‘We, the people’ to take up that onus and keep the conscience alive. To continue to raise awareness, be warriors who utilise both the keyboard and the streets, be citizens who refuse to turn into subjects, and be the Cockroaches who refuse to die despite a million attempts.