Indian Police Detain Founder of Gen-Z 'Cockroach' Movement Ahead of Capital Protest

Indian police boarded a plane on Saturday to detain the founder of a surging youth-led political movement as he landed in New Delhi for a planned protest. Abhijeet Dipke was detained alongside other leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, according to the group.

The CJP originated in May as a Gen-Z internet joke that rapidly went viral, eventually forcing the government into a major climbdown in July. Now, the party has returned for what it calls Season 2 of its political movement, targeting Chief of the Election Commission Gyanesh Kumar, whom the CJP alleges is responsible for disenfranchising tens of millions of citizens.

By Saturday midday, crowds in Delhi had failed to reach previous scales as the capital transformed into a fortress with blocked mobile internet and widespread police detentions. Video released by the CJP showed police officers boarding Dipke's aircraft immediately upon landing.

“The entire Delhi police team is boarding the aircraft,” Dipke stated. “This is dictatorship, with Delhi police entering the plane and trying to arrest us. Come on, arrest us… we are not afraid of you. Go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!”

The party strongly condemned the detentions, stating that the pre-planned interception aimed to cripple the leadership of peaceful demonstrations before reaching the protest site. In another statement, the CJP noted that popular influencer and activist Dhruv Rathee was also detained at the protest location.

Meanwhile, Nitin Nabin, president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), criticized the CJP on X, stating that the movement is attempting to destabilize India at the behest of foreign forces.

The CJP derived its name from an off-the-cuff remark by India's chief justice in May, who allegedly used terms like “cockroaches” and “parasites” to describe unemployed youth. Although the chief justice later claimed he was misquoted, Dipke adopted the label, celebrating the insect's resilience. The movement subsequently organized nationwide protests over an exam paper leaks scandal, which led to the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

For Season 2, Dipke called supporters back to Jantar Mutar in New Delhi to challenge the Electoral Commission's voter roll revisions. Despite hopes for tens of thousands of attendees, authorities implemented strict security measures, including internet blackdowns, canceled trains, and shuttered metro stations, leading to a much smaller turnout as the movement faces a new test against India's established electoral system.