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The rally at Savitribai Phule Pune University followed the
group’s first major street protest in New Delhi last week. It
demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities and repeated
paper leaks.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications
strategist and Boston University student, addressed supporters
and said Thursday marked the start of a broader national
campaign. He announced plans for protests in other cities and
said supporters would return to New Delhi later this month if
the education minister did not step down.
“The government cannot ignore the youth,” Dipke, who recently
returned from the United States to lead the campaign, told
reporters.
The movement emerged in May, after Supreme Court judge Surya
Kant’s remarks comparing some unemployed youth to “cockroaches”
triggered outrage. Supporters embraced the term as a symbol of
resilience, helping the group amass more than 22 million
followers on Instagram.
The movement's message has since expanded to include concerns
over unemployment, rising living costs and government
accountability.
The CJP mixes self-deprecating humor with political criticism.
Supporters jokingly call themselves unemployed and chronically
online, while videos and memes mocking unemployment, corruption
and political dysfunction have attracted millions of views. Many
parody CJP accounts have also adopted the cockroach as a
satirical political symbol.
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