The word that was spoken in the courtroom just 10 days ago has now returned to the same court as the substance of the two petitions. So much has happened between them that the term “cockroach” is now the subject of an online movement, taking its name from a comment made by the Chief Justice of India.
On Monday, when lawyer NK Goswami mentioned his plea against the Kukruche Janta Party before the ICC bench Surya Kant and said the satirical move tarnishes the image of the judiciary, the ICC reportedly observed: “Don’t take it emotionally.”
Lawyer Raja Chowdhury filed another petition, which mainly sought an investigation into the alleged fake lawyers, but also demanded action against the alleged “commercial exploitation and monetary circulation” of the courtroom’s oral remarks, news agency PTI reported. Chaudhary said an investigation should be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ICC bench, Justices Joymalia Bagchi and VM Pancholi, refused to grant any priority in the hearing, saying “there is no such serious urgency” and that the matter would be examined in due course.
The note that started it
Advocate Chowdhury specifically referred to the oral remarks made in the courtroom during the recent proceedings before the Supreme Court. This is because the satirical social media movement was in response to a verbal comment made by the CJI.
The CJI spoke about the menace of fake law degrees in the context of a lawyer seeking a senior advocate appointment.
“There are already parasites in society attacking the system and you want to cooperate with them?” The CJI said, as reported by HT earlier.
He added: “There are young people who are like cockroaches, who do not get any work and have no place in a profession. Some of them become media professionals, some of them become social media, some of them become RTI activists, some of them become other activists, and they start attacking everyone.”
Videos of the comments have gone viral, especially among young people angry over unemployment and exam paper leaks such as the recent irregularities in the NEET-UG medical entrance exam.
The CJI later sought to clarify that he had been “misquoted” and that his comments were directed at individuals entering professions with fake degrees, and not at unemployed youth in general.
By then, Abhijit Debaki, a political communications strategist from Maharashtra, currently a student at Boston University in the US, had launched social media pages called Cockroach Janta Party, adopting the word as the movement’s identity. The logo contained a cockroach, as expected.
What the CJP says is
The group has amassed nearly 23 million followers on Instagram in less than two weeks.
The group’s president, Debki, has faced sharp criticism and allegations from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – including that he has a “Pakistani following”, which he refuted, citing statistics – and faced legal action over his X account. His Instagram account and website were also allegedly hacked and later restored.
He has expressed his fear that he will be “put in Tihar jail” if he returns to India. Meanwhile, police put up a blanket outside his parents’ home to “avoid crowding,” while his mother and father expressed their concern for him.
But the CJP continues to share videos of people in several places in India staging peaceful anti-corruption protests while dressing up as “cockroaches,” drawing graffiti, or holding up prints of the CJP website banner in random public places.
On Sunday, the CJP posted a statement on its Instagram page explaining its next direction: “Cockroaches are the last survivors. They thrive in dark cracks and withstand every attempt to close them. This is how young people in this country often feel – abused, neglected and overlooked, but they never give up on life.”
Read also | ‘Just getting started’: Cockroach Janta Party sets out what’s next after massive response, calls for suggestions
The movement said it intends to build “an independent, youth-led movement focused on amplifying youth concerns and holding the government to account,” adding that its values are rooted in the constitution.
“We believe in secularism, democracy and social justice,” the statement read, and plan to collect suggestions “to turn the best ideas into focused campaigns.” Regarding the crackdown she faced, the publication described it as “unfortunate, but not completely shocking.”
“We will raise these issues constructively without descending into partisan politics,” the CJP statement said.
Debki has in the past worked with the AAP which was also emerging from an anti-establishment moment in 2011-12 against the then Congress-led UPA regime.
Now, the NDA, an ally of the BJP from Andhra Pradesh, the state’s ruling LDP, has described the “cockroach” movement as a “result of youth frustration” which “should not be viewed politically”. For example, leaders from the main opposition Congress party and the TMC from Bengal have expressed their support for the issues raised by the CJP.
But one of the two petitions to the Supreme Court takes a completely different angle on the movement, arguing that it made profits from the ICJ’s verbal statements. “The petitioner respectfully submits that subsequent developments, including activities associated with the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’, alleged commercial assertions of trademarks, trademark campaigns, and monetized digital trading, prima facie demonstrate organized commercial appropriation of judicial argumentation and courtroom oral interaction.”
