When thousands of anxious students gathered on Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to protest the alleged NEET--UG 2026 paper leak, demanding answers from the government, the faces leading the charge did not belong to career politicians or veteran political activists.
They belonged to three young men whose paths should never have crossed-- a freelance investigative journalist, an IIT graduate who walked away from McKinsey, and a political communications strategist who landed from Boston and headed straight to the protest site.
Together, they built the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which started as a satirical political collective that, in little over a month, grew from online idea into a buzzing youth movement.
Their stories are different. Their temperaments are different. But together, they could become the movement’s voice.
Saurav Das saw journalism more than reporting of events. He wanted to “pursue institutions that rarely answer questions.” Born in Delhi and raised in Puducherry, Das studied journalism at Amity University before working briefly with Media Monks and Content Associates. Since 2020, he has worked independently from New Delhi reporting on governance, the judiciary, transparency and the Right to Information Act.
Friends describe him as someone more comfortable with documents than slogans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of his legal interventions before a High Court reportedly prompted the Central Information Commission to fast-track urgent RTI appeals linked to the public health emergency. He is also writing his first book, Complicit Silence: The Court’s Role in India’s Quiet Suffering, which explores access to justice through the experiences of ordinary litigants.
If Das can be billed as the researcher, Ashutosh Ranka became the architect of the movement. Raised in Jaipur, Ranka followed the path many middle-class Indian students dream of. He graduated from IIT Kanpur, where he also served as president of the Students’ Gymkhana, before earning a Master’s in Public Administration from the London School of Economics (LSE). McKinsey & Company followed. But he didn’t stay there for long.
After returning to India, Ranka worked on governance initiatives and including as an associate fellow with the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government in areas such as education reforms, and environmental issues. Friends call him the “calm explainer.” He could translate student anger into policy language. Ranka built the framework.
Then there is Abhijeet Dipke, the communicator who gave the movement its energy. Hailing from Aurangabad, Dipke studied journalism in Pune before moving to Boston University for a master’s degree in Public Relations. After the NEET controversy erupted, he flew back to India and travelled straight from Delhi airport to Jantar Mantar without stopping at home. Dipke too had spent three years with the Aam Aadmi Party, working on social media campaigns, including its meme-driven outreach campaigns ahead of the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. He is deeply influenced by BR Ambedkar. Yet as the protests gathered momentum, Dipke resisted becoming their face. “Don’t make me a hero,” he told supporters after the exit of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The Cockroach Janta Party emerged after a widely reported courtroom remark attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant comparing unemployed youth to “cockroaches” struggling to find space in society—which CJI clarified that was ‘reported wrongly and out of context.’
It was satire with a purpose and the three youngsters transformed student anger into organised civic action. What began with around 2,000 protesters at Jantar Mantar soon evolved into indefinite sit-ins, nationwide demonstrations and the “Sansad Chalo” march that forced exam reforms into the centre of the national debate. Whether the CJP will evolve into a lasting political force remains to be seen. But its three youngsters have altered the conversation through collective leadership and innovative protest lingo. More importantly, they reminded a generation that movements are built by ordinary people who decide they have had enough.
