Opposition members of India’s Parliament (MPs) belonging to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad have seemingly, albeit it jokingly, endorsed a viral social media movement satirically called the Cockroach Janta Party.

The MPs belong to the same TMC that was swept out of power in India’s Eastern state of West Bengal in an historic election earlier in May, with the centre ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) securing a win for the first time since independence in 1947.

Posting on social media platform X, both TMC MPs inquired about the criteria for joining the movement in an obvious pun, and interacted with its handle. The Cockroach Janta Party, however, is a satirical online-only phenomena which has emerged as a reflection of voices of dissent in India over concerns most commonly identified with the prevailing political order.

According to a report by the Times of India, the Cockroach Janta Party was started by Abhijeet Dipke, a former social media volunteer for another Indian opposition political party called the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The AAP, which emerged from several civil-society movements that appeared in India during the 2010s has also gone through tough times, as its head and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is involved in a legal case in which he is accused of misusing his position in a liquor excise policy matter.

A major political defection of note from the AAPs stable has been Raghav Chaddha, another MP who switched his political allegiance to the BJP after the AAP accused him of being aligned with the ruling party when he opted not to join other opposition MPs in parliament as part of protest actions.

Raghav Chaddha briefly emerged as a figure who put forward personal finance and economic concerns affecting the majority tax base of India’s middle class. Chaddha’s questions and discussion points in parliament during his tenure with the AAP were appreciated by social media users at the time who saw them as representing the most vocal part of the Indian politically aware demographic currently active online.

While Dipke has not connected the Cockroach Janta Party to his former association with the AAP, the idealistic motivation and ethos behind it is purportedly similar to the civil-society movements of the 2010s that spoke out against the then prevailing anti-corruption and anti-incumbency sentiment of the era.

The movement now has a website with an ever evolving short manifesto which includes proposals such as barring representatives who defect to other parties from contesting elections for two decades, additional, guaranteed, places for women in cabinet positions, but without increasing the size of the parliament, curbs on media ownership by certain industrial conglomerates and the investigation of certain news anchors who create the narrative in the national media space.

The website also has a Google form which reportedly crossed 100,000 sign-ups for membership in just 3 days following its inception.

The movement emerged after alleged remarks made by the incumbent Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, who is said to have likened rabble rousers who attack the system of governance in the country with “cockroaches” which, upon not finding employment elsewhere, get into certain professions.

The Chief Justice later clarified that his remarks were misconstrued in widespread media reporting and that he was referring solely to people who have “fake degrees” and get into professions with the sole purpose of negatively criticising and hurting the system of governance.

While not a new concept, the Cockroach Janta Party, has a similar aesthetic quality to the Gen-Z movements that led to political regime changes in India’s neighbouring countries, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Economic conditions in India including rising inflation and a depreciating currency have also given some narrative space to the movement and in some areas have found a sympathetic ear.

However without major organisational momentum behind it, the movement is unlikely to become a driver of any real change and may fizzle out as a brief online phenomena.

At best it can remain relevant as a channel for shared frustrations from independent activists, opposition leaders and disaffected citizens looking for a way to express themselves online.