It began as a satirical online project after a high court judge compared unemployed young people to cockroaches. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration.

A parody political party with the insect as its symbol has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humour into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach – an insect known for its ability to survive harsh conditions – as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance.

The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta (people’s) party, or CJP, set up its website and social media accounts on Saturday. By Thursday, its Instagram page had amassed more than 15 million followers, far surpassing the 8.8 million of Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) on the platform.

“Nothing of this was intentional,” said the CJP founder, Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and student at Boston University in the US.

The movement’s rise reflected mounting frustration among young Indians, he said. “It is the younger people who were actually very frustrated. They didn’t have any outlet. They were really angry at the government.”

The CJP emerged online after remarks by the supreme court chief justice, Surya Kant, triggered a backlash among young Indians angered by unemployment, rising living costs and recent government exam paper leaks that have disrupted job recruitment drives.

During a hearing last week, Kant criticised what he described as “parasites” attacking institutions and compared some unemployed young people and activists to cockroaches.

“There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in a profession,” Kant said. He said that some turned to social media activism, journalism or public interest campaigns and “start attacking everyone”.

The comments quickly spread online, where many saw them as dismissive. Kant later clarified that his remarks referred to people obtaining fraudulent degrees, and said he did not intend to insult India’s youth.

But the controversy soon led to the creation of the CJP account on Instagram, which adopted the cockroach as its political symbol and began posting memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary targeting Modi’s government. Within days, it drew tens of thousands of online volunteers through a Google form submission, alongside endorsements from some opposition leaders.

“We have to understand that five years ago nobody was ready to speak up against Modi or the government. The times are changing,” said Dipke, who has previously worked with the Aam Aadmi party (AAP), which emerged from India’s anti-corruption movement in 2012.

Dipke said the CJP was not affiliated with any real political organisation. But its rise echoes a broader trend across South Asia, where youths have played a central role in anti-government movements in recent years, including uprisings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and unrest in Nepal.

“The youth are really frustrated and the government is not acknowledging their concerns,” Dipke said.

The pressures are especially acute in India, where young people make up more than a quarter of the population, yet many face scarce job opportunities and persistent unemployment. Many young voters are also angry with Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party over issues including rising religious polarisation, widening inequality and economic pressures.

The CJP leans heavily into self-mockery. Its tongue-in-cheek membership criteria include being unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and capable of ranting professionally. Its manifesto uses satire to address several contentious issues in Indian politics, including opposition allegations of voter manipulation, criticism of the relationship between corporate media and the government, and the appointment of retired judges to official posts.

Some opponents, many of them Modi supporters, have dismissed it as an online political gimmick aligned with the opposition, citing Dipke’s past association with the AAP. They also say the surge in popularity is likely to fade as quickly as it emerged, arguing that it is a digital campaign rather than a grassroots movement.

But Dipke said what began online was unlikely to remain confined to social media. “This is the movement that has arrived in India … it will change the political discourse,” he said. “It will continue online, and if required it will also come on the ground.”

The movement has already begun to slowly spill offline, with some young volunteers appearing at protests dressed as cockroaches. So has the apparent pushback.

On Thursday, Dipke wrote on X that the CJP’s account on the platform, which had about 200,000 followers, had been withheld in India – marking one of the first visible restrictions on the movement. The reason was not immediately clear.

Minutes later, he announced a new account for the group, alongside a post reading: “Cockroach is back.” It added: “You thought you can get rid of us? Lol.”