The student behind 'cockroach' protests that forced an Indian minister to quit

In just under three months, 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke - the founder and face of India's Gen Z "cockroach" protests - has acquired the kind of celebrity status normally reserved for a breakout actor or cricketer.

In politics or activism, unless you come from an influential family, such recognition can take years - if it comes at all.

"It's been a rollercoaster ride. Two-three months ago, nobody knew me. I was just in my room in Boston watching documentaries or attending lectures," said Dipke, who recently completed a master's in public relations at Boston University.

"Now I'm here surrounded by hundreds of people, by cameras. It's a bit overwhelming."

In and around his hometown of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in the western state of Maharashtra, Dipke is routinely thronged by people wanting to shake his hand or take a photo.

If the attention bothers him, it doesn't show. Perhaps because politics isn't entirely new to him: before moving to the US, Dipke had worked with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an opposition party that grew out of an anti-corruption movement, for three years.

Then, on 16 May, Dipke wrote a post on X that would change his life: "What if all cockroaches come together?"

It was a response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to cockroaches. Kant later said his comments had been misinterpreted and were directed specifically at young people using fake degrees, rather than the country's youth more broadly.

But the clarification did little to quell the outrage.

Dipke said he wrote his post while playing a video game. "It was totally spontaneous. I had no idea it would become such a big movement," he said.

Encouraged by tens of thousands of responses, he joined a handful of former colleagues and activists to launch the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) , its name playing on both the chief justice's remark and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Alongside the support, Dipke and the campaign were fiercely trolled by government supporters. Their website and X account was briefly taken down in India.

Dipke says that when he wrote to X and to India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asking why the account had been taken down, he received a notice saying it had been withheld under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act which allows the government to block online information 'in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State'.

The ministry did not reply to the BBC's questions about the issue, but The Indian Express and other media reported government officials as saying the sites had been blocked because of 'national security concerns'. Dipke says he decided to return to India in response to this.

"I took the decision to come back to India when I was called a national security threat by my own government. That really hurt me. Isn't my government supposed to stand by me when I'm abroad?" he said.

"I decided I need to go back to my country to show I'm not a national security threat. I love my country, just not in the way that you [the government] want."

Returning was not an easy decision. In recent years, activists and journalists critical of the government have faced police questioning, legal cases and, in some instances, jail.

Dipke says a lawyer he consulted advised him against returning, warning that he could be detained under the National Security Act (NSA), which allows detention without formal charge or trial. The government has always denied it takes retaliatory action but a fear of reprisal prevails.

"I won't lie. I was afraid. I had sleepless nights thinking if I go back to India, my life will change. But if I sit in the US, all these people who have followed the Cockroach Janta Party, they will feel betrayed - that 'he didn't come to India, he just kept hiding in the US'," said Dipke.

"My mother broke down over a phone call. She said, 'Why are you coming back? They might put you in jail or attack you.' I told her I can't backtrack now because people will mock me."

The cockroach protests were not the first mass agitation Modi's government has faced. Thousands protested against a controversial citizenship law in 2019 and against farm laws introduced in 2020.

Those movements were often portrayed by government supporters as representing particular religious or political interests, or as attempts to damage India's image.

Attempts to discredit the cockroach protests in similar ways, however, gained less traction for a number of reasons.

Despite India's impressive economic growth, education and employment remain major concerns for young Indians. A recent government report found that just over 8% of graduates find jobs aligned with their skills. The unemployment rate for graduates stands at 29.1% - a rate nine times higher than for those who never attended school.

And after more than 12 years in power, Modi's government is facing anti-incumbency in a way it didn't back in 2020.

But, crucially, the CJP also found an issue with broad appeal.

Around the time the campaign began, the national medical entrance exam was scrapped after a question-paper leak . The scandal resonated with students and middle-class families, cutting across religious and caste lines. More than 20 students were reported to have taken their own lives in its aftermath.

Dipke says focusing on the leak was not a strategic decision, but a response to students who reached out to the CJP.

"I was speaking to at least a hundred followers every day, and most of them were complaining about the paper leak. There was this core frustration around it," he said.

When the CJP first protested at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on 6 June, the turnout was in hundreds, but nowhere near enough for it to be considered a serious movement on the ground.

"But the longer we sat, the more people started trusting us," Dipke said. He credits activist Sonam Wangchuk's 26-day hunger strike for galvanising support.

On 20 July, when protesters attempted to march towards parliament, police and paramilitary forces used tear gas, batons and pellet guns to disperse them. Dozens of protesters were injured; the government says dozens of police personnel were also wounded.

Images of young protesters being met with force triggered a surge of support. Thousands began arriving at Jantar Mantar and demonstrations spread to other cities.

Opposition parties rallied behind the CJP. Asked whether he challenged their leaders over why they had not taken up students' concerns more forcefully, Dipke said he had not.

"This was the first time I was organising a protest so I was just grateful to them for coming out in support of us."

The government was suddenly on the back foot. On two successive nights, Modi released videos addressing the country's youth, saying that tough action would be taken against those involved in exam leaks. But they fuelled further backlash because he wasn't offering what the protesters wanted: the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

It seemed almost unthinkable that Pradhan, a core BJP leader who had played an important role in recent regional elections, would be compelled to go.

On 25 July, however, he stepped down , saying it was "to ensure that anti-national elements do not take advantage of the situation".

Modi's government had reversed course before - most notably when it repealed three farm laws in 2021 after a year of protests. But this climbdown had come remarkably quickly, at the hands of a movement led by people who had been largely unknown only weeks earlier.

Dipke was on stage at the protest site when the news reached him. He dropped to his knees, then sprang up, punched his fist into the air and shouted: "We have done it."

Now that the euphoria of that moment has passed, the CJP is confronting more difficult questions - not least how to hold on to the attention it captured.

Its latest campaign focuses on conditions in government schools in rural India.

"What I'm hoping to accomplish is that children in rural India should at least get a dignified education," said Dipke during a visit to a school in Maharashtra's Hingoli district.

The school had no toilet for female students and expired food packets were being used to prepare lunches. At another, cracks ran through the floors, walls and ceiling.

The campaign has gained some traction, but feels more ad-hoc than a planned national movement, and the CJP still resembles a loose pressure group - something Dipke says is deliberate.

"People have limited politics just to elections and political parties. We want to move beyond that," he said.

"What we are here for is a cultural transformation where people understand their rights, their duties, and how to hold the government accountable no matter which party comes to power."