A massive gathering at Jantar Mantar on Saturday in response to the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) call exposed sharp divisions within the Opposition, with the Congress maintaining a cautious distance while most other parties threw their weight behind the movement.
While a section of the Congress dismissed the protest as "performative" and a "brainchild of the AAP", the party's official position focused on highlighting its own efforts to champion the cause of students affected by paper leaks and shortcomings in digital infrastructure.
In contrast, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Shiv Sena (UBT) and Left parties openly backed the campaign. Several prominent Left leaders also joined the gathering at Jantar Mantar.
The CJP's first major ground-level mobilisation also laid bare the widening cracks within the Opposition ahead of the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled for June 8 in New Delhi, the alliance's first gathering since the DMK exited the coalition following its defeat in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and the Congress decided to align with the ruling TVK in the state.
Among the strongest supporters of the protest was AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, who linked the movement to growing discontent among young people.
"The cockroach movement is an expression of the huge anger and frustration experienced by the youth of this country. Rather than terming them anti-national, Modi govt should address their issues. AAP supports their demands. The Prime Minister must sack the education minister immediately," Kejriwal said in a post on X.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was previously associated with the AAP and served as a key member of the party's social media core team before moving to the United States for higher education. He played a pivotal role in shaping the AAP's social media campaign during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, which the party won decisively.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also voiced support for the agitation, posting on X: "These voices must reach the 'arrogant rulers', now that the youth too have sparked a revolution," while sharing a news clip featuring anti-government slogans from the protest site.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray described the protesters as "the destiny-makers and future of the country".
"It is not right to belittle them by calling them 'cockroaches' and deny them justice. The NEET paper leak has devastated lakhs of young people. All these aggrieved young men and women are now raising their voices by becoming cockroaches. The government will have to listen to their demands.
"Do not underestimate the cockroaches -- this is the warning given by the agitation at Jantar Mantar," Thackeray said.
Dipke, notably, hails from Maharashtra.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also praised the movement and its founder, writing on X: "Cockroaches survive even a nuclear holocaust -- don't take them lightly. Onwards and upwards."
Despite the broad Opposition backing, the Congress remained unconvinced. A sizeable section of the party suspects that the AAP continues to exert influence over the CJP, reflecting the longstanding tensions between the two parties that date back to the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement led by Kejriwal and Anna Hazare during the UPA-II era.
In a lengthy post on X, Congress social media and digital platforms chairperson Supriya Shrinate drew attention to protests organised by the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) across several states over the past month against the alleged NEET paper leak and the CBSE marking controversy.
"They have braved scorching 47°C heat, they have faced water cannons, they have been beaten mercilessly, they have been lathicharged, they have been arrested and detained. Yet, did you see this on prime-time news? Did you see the courage, the sweat, the blood and the resolve of these young Indians?
"No. You did not. And that itself tells you everything about whose voices the system wants to amplify and whose it wants to suppress," Shrinate said.
Several Congress leaders were even more outspoken in their criticism. Srivatsa, a member of Rahul Gandhi's core team, dismissed the gathering as a "flop" and "performative".
"Kejriwal today again proved that he is better at mobilising journalists and YouTubers than people. There are twice as many media personnel at Jantar Mantar as there are 'protesters' at this flop protest," he wrote on X.
The BJP also responded to the developments. Addressing a meeting in Ranchi, BJP president Nitin Nabin took an apparent swipe at Dipke without naming him.
"Some people sitting abroad think they will give direction to India's youngsters," Nabin said.
"India's youngsters live in the village square with the farmer, live in coaching institutes, live on college campuses. But India's youngsters are not going to move forward by becoming a puppet in the fist of a few people sitting in Delhi," he added.
The contrasting responses to the CJP campaign have highlighted growing differences within the Opposition camp at a time when the INDIA bloc is struggling to maintain cohesion. With key allies backing the movement and the Congress remaining wary of its perceived links to the AAP, the Jantar Mantar protest has become a fresh flashpoint in the evolving dynamics of Opposition politics.
(With inputs from PTI)
