Indian youth score a win over Modi with humor and grit July 27, 2026Walking from Jantar Mantar to Connaught Place in central New Delhi on Saturday evening provided an unusual sight for the prime corridor of power in the world's largest democracy. Satirical posters mocking India's legislative, executive and judiciary were plastered on the walls, and the pavement was sprayed with sometimes "vulgar" graffiti mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These were all remnants of thousands of young Cockroach movement protesters who had flooded the streets hours earlier after India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

Celebrating Pradhan's resignation, which had been a core protest demand, some protesters were heard telling security officials "see you at the next protest," coming only days after several people were injured in clashes with baton-wielding police who fired tear gas into crowds. Instagram was also full of images from cities across India with young people dancing in front of police officials to the line "Everybody knows that I'm a good girl, officer " from Lana Del Ray's song "Playing Dangerous." Others held posters reading: "Cuff me, daddy" and some were seen climbing atop police barricades. India's Gen Z rattles government into change The movement, known as the Cockroach Janta Party movement (CJP), came after the chief justice of India referred to unemployed young people as "cockroaches" in an offhand remark.

The name is also a play on Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Since a scandal broke in May involving a highly competitive university entrance exam, the Gen Z protests have spread across India, challenging the political establishment with Instagram reels, viral trends, sarcastic jingles and posters. "In our generation humor has become the defense mechanism from pain, frustration and helplessness.

This entire protest is driven by humor, driven by Instagram and social media," Karan Azad, a 24-year-old law student, told DW at the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi. Another protester held a sign addressed to Modi reading in transliterated Hindi: "Buddy, you can't even make tea," alluding to Modi's boyhood days as a tea seller. "I had to do my part.

I am the youth. If we don't stand up for ourselves no one else will, we have to fight this battle ourselves," the female protester with the sign told DW without giving her name. A protester named Tushar, also 24, said he wasn't "afraid of a backlash" from the authorities, but rather "would have had FOMO [fear of missing out]" had he not joined the protest.

Ridhima, a 17-year-old school student, said: "If not us then who? Those who are not here, it just speaks to their cowardice and I am talking about people who are sitting on their chairs in positions of power." What drove the Cockroach movement? Content creator Arun Singh, known by his social media handle "TheJhumroo," said that meme culture kept the satire and humor fresh throughout the protests.

"It's the meme culture which fueled this kind of emotion. As millennials, we developed the language of memes as we adapted to the internet culture, but this younger generation was born with memes being their language.