By Tora Agarwala
NEW DELHI, July 23 (Reuters) – They were just six words posted on X in a moment of frustration:
“What if all cockroaches come together?”
Now, its 30-year-old author, Abhijeet Dipke, is the face of what is arguably India’s biggest street protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since he took office in 2014.
The political communications strategist’s post, sent on May 16, was initially a witty response to comments by Supreme Court judge Surya Kant, likening India’s unemployed youth in a speech to “cockroaches”.
Kant later said his comments were misconstrued.
By then Dipke’s post had gone viral.
A satirical platform called the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) had sprung up, providing a rallying point for millions of young Indians frustrated over high unemployment and exam paper leaks and seeking greater government accountability.
Over the past three days, tens of thousands have gathered in New Delhi demanding the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over leaks of the medical entrance test paper that affected some 2 million students in May and have been linked to several student suicides.
Sporadic protests were reported in other parts of the country, including the financial hub of Mumbai.
At the centre of it all is Dipke.
‘VERY HUMBLE’ ORIGINS
Based in the U.S. city of Boston until early June, he flew back to India to launch a protest near the Jantar Mantar observatory in the heart of Delhi.
Since then — and particularly after a police crackdown on demonstrators on Monday sparked public outrage — he has become a constant presence on a raised platform at the protest site.
Bearded and dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, Dipke addresses crowds of hundreds, urging them to remain peaceful while maintaining pressure on the government.
Even if the CJP has several organisers, Dipke has become its most recognisable face, drawing both admiration and criticism.
Last week a woman threw blue ink at him while he was addressing supporters, smearing his face. She later accused the CJP of insulting Lord Ram, a major Hindu deity.
Dipke was born in Aurangabad in the western Indian state of Maharashtra into a Dalit family, one of India’s most historically disadvantaged communities.
“My father comes from a very humble background. He grew up in extreme poverty. My grandfather was just a farmer,” Dipke told Reuters in a phone interview from Chicago in May.
His Dalit identity has long shaped his politics.
When he arrived in Delhi on June 6, Dipke held aloft a copy of “My Autobiography” by B.R. Ambedkar, a champion of Dalit rights and key architect of India’s democratic constitution, as supporters and security personnel swarmed around him.
After the ink attack, Dipke posted a video of the incident with the caption: “Blue is my colour”, an apparent reference to the colour closely associated with the Ambedkarite movement.
In 2020, Dipke joined the social media team of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), where he said he developed a style of political messaging built around memes, humour and satire.
He is no longer associated with the party, though AAP and several other Indian opposition parties have backed the movement.
In 2023, Dipke moved to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in public relations in Boston, but continued to follow Indian politics closely.
FROM A SOCIAL MEDIA POST TO A MOVEMENT
Dipke says he is still trying to process his prominence.
One of the first people to amplify the movement was Delhi-based YouTuber Meghnad S. Soon after Dipke’s post, he and a friend used AI tools to build a satirical website announcing the formation of the Cockroach Janta Party.
“I saw the page and thought it was damn hilarious,” Meghnad said.
The Instagram account amassed 22 million followers in a matter of days before swelling further to 25 million recently.
“That’s how organic it was,” Meghnad said.
But as the online movement grew, so did the stakes.
Speaking to Reuters from Boston in May, Dipke said:
“This is a movement to change the political discourse of India. The youth of India has largely vanished from the mainstream political discourse.”
Despite threats to himself and his family, Dipke decided to return to India. He has said he will stay at least until the students get justice.
Since June 6, Dipke has remained at the protest site as the demonstrations have swelled and can frequently be seen appealing to protesters to keep the movement peaceful, speaking to the media or grabbing brief naps.
Addressing supporters from the stage on Wednesday, he said, “Let me make it clear — we will also not stop until we win.”
(Reporting by Tora Agarwala in New Delhi; Editing by Aftab Ahmed and Gareth Jones )
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