How India's Students Turned an Insult Into a Protest Movement

By María Morena Vicente and Emiliano Rodríguez Nuesch

A few months ago, India's chief justice referred to some activists and unemployed young people as "cockroaches."

Students embraced the label.

What began as an online joke became the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led movement demanding accountability after repeated leaks of national entrance exams that affected millions of students.

Picture: Al Jazeera.

This week, tens of thousands marched toward Parliament despite internet shutdowns, roadblocks, and a ban on public gatherings. Police responded with tear gas and batons.

Much of what happened next was documented by the protesters themselves.

Videos filmed on smartphones spread rapidly across social media, showing police confrontations, injured students, and volunteers helping one another. For years, India's government has been known for its strong online presence. Now, many of those same platforms are helping young people organize, document events, and bring national attention to the protests.

An injured teenage protester rests in her mother's lap at Jantar Mantar, a day after thousands marched on parliament over exam paper leaks in Delhi.

The movement has since expanded beyond students, drawing support from parents, doctors, farmers, and families affected by the exam scandal.

At Arithmetic of Compassion, we're interested in how collective action spreads. Sometimes it begins with a shared grievance. Sometimes with a single story. In this case, a word meant to dismiss a generation became the name of a movement that thousands chose to rally behind.