Listen again: Power Players - Why are young Indians joining the Cockroach protests?

Rahul Tandon (0:00)

I'm Rahul Tandon, and I have to tell you, my phone has been extremely busy this morning. It's been buzzing with lots of messages from my family in Delhi, because once again, there are huge protests there. India's capital is locked down. It's all part of the cockroach movement. Youngsters once again taking to the streets, fed up with their lot in life. So we're gonna take you back to a podcast we recorded at the end of July, when the cockroach protests first broke out.

Will Bain (0:37)

Yeah, welcome back to the programme. I'm Will Bain here in the UK.

Rahul Tandon (0:40)

I'm Rahul Tandon, unfortunately here in the UK as well.

Arunoday Mukherjee (0:43)

Arunoday Mukherjee here in Delhi.

Will Bain (0:45)

Yeah, great to have you with us, Arunoday. Michelle, unfortunately still not with us this week, but you're perfectly placed to chat to us about all that's been going on. I mean, how consumed have you been by this story in the last couple of months in the Delhi office?

Arunoday Mukherjee (0:57)

Completely. Honestly, it's been unreal to see what happened. If you've been following Indian politics for a while, especially since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014 I mean, these were unprecedented scenes that played out on Delhi's streets.

But I think the ones who were really caught off guard was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. And I think that's where the story really turned. And we were all surprised about what happened.

Will Bain (1:19)

Yeah, well, if you were one of those who was caught off guard, the next 20 minutes or so is going to be perfect. You're going to catch you up on all of it. What might happen next? Also, if you're listening around the world, I think, guys, this is a challenge for lots of countries beyond India, isn't it? Especially with AI and a crunch on kind of graduate jobs and lower entry level jobs around the world. What on earth you do to try and tackle unemployment, particularly among young people as well. Let's go right back to the start then for people.

It all began, of course, as a joke.

Abhijit Dipke (1:47)

I just wrote simply, what if all the cockroaches come together on my personal Twitter handle? And that tweet somehow received 700 to 800 reposts, reshares. And this was predominantly by the Gen Z. These were all college going students and who were like, yeah, we should all come together. We should all come together. And that led me to, you know what? Maybe here's an opportunity to do something really creative, really funny.

It wasn't meant to launch a movement.

Will Bain (2:14)

So is it fair to call him King Cockroach Abhijit Dipka? They're the top cockroach, the leader of the cockroaches. A sort of Arunoday, accidental folk hero at this point?

Arunoday Mukherjee (2:26)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, who would have thought that a name like that, which is definitely grabbing headlines, would turn into something like this? I mean, it was not the most flattering name, but it all began with what the Chief Justice of India said, referring to those who are unemployed in India as cockroaches. Of course, he later said that his comments were misinterpreted, but the damage had been done. And look at where we are now. There was a movement which started as an online satirical movement and then turned into this massive on-the-street movement. And yes, led by Dipke and a lot of these other youth leaders who now have a following on their own right.

Rahul Tandon (3:03)

What interested me when I was in India was, it was a youth angle, wasn't it? Because it seemed to be an inspiration. We saw this huge protest in Delhi. I was in Kolkata, went to other parts of India as well. And everywhere I went, this is what people were talking about. Because, maybe the first significant challenge to the Modi government since they came to power and on an issue that resonates with Indians, you know, there's 1.5 billion of them. They're very different. There's different regional religions, everything, but resonated with everyone.

Arunoday Mukherjee (3:32)

I think that's it. I think that's exactly what happened. I think the way it resonated first was proved by the kind of following the Cockroach Janta Party got online and I think the kind of organic nature of the protests. Of course, there are counterarguments about whether it was organic or not or whether it was politicised, but what we saw on the streets was the way in which people were coming in and sort of, you know, joining themselves, aligning themselves with the protests with different stories about how they didn't have a job or they were struggling to get admission in some sort of college. That really resonated.