There is seldom just one cockroach in the kitchen. “You turn on the light and they all start scurrying around,” warned American businessman-philanthropist Warren Buffett, using the metaphor to describe hidden problems inside corporations. Today, governments too are increasingly run like corporations, with prime ministers expected to function like CEOs.
Against this backdrop, the emergence of the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) or Cockroach People’s Party — a satirical social media platform reportedly triggered by a remark made by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant during a court hearing on May 15, when he likened unemployed Indian youth to cockroaches — suggests that discontent within and with the Narendra Modi government may run far deeper than it appears on the surface.
The extraordinary traction the CJP accounts gained on Instagram and X, with more than 20 million followers, indicates that a section of India’s middle class and youth no longer feels represented by the existing political and economic order. Unlike Franz Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, they are no longer willing to quietly survive on the rotten crumbs thrown at them. And when the Indian middle class, like Gregor, longs for “fresh food” — dignity, opportunity, and economic relief — it is met instead with high direct taxes, inflation, and budgets that offer little meaningful respite.
During the post-budget press conference, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was asked what was there for the middle class in the 2026 budget, she paused, smiled sarcastically, and instead of responding to the question, started explaining other government projects. That clip went viral, showing her dismissive and often condescending response to concerns about the middle class.
Predictably, the government reacted to the CJP the way it often reacts to online dissent. The account on X was reportedly blocked in the name of national security.
Yet attempts to suppress satire or criticism on social media often end up amplifying it. Support for the CJP spread even faster after the ban. Killing one cockroach, after all, does not rid the kitchen of the infestation hiding within it.
When Modi came to power in 2014 with a sweeping mandate, he projected himself as a pro-business reformer who would liberalize the economy and unleash growth.
More than a decade later, slogans such as “world’s fastest-growing economy,” “fourth-largest economy,” and “vishwa guru” (the world’s teacher) continue to dominate political rhetoric, but many critics argue that structural reforms on the ground remain limited. Faced with economic uncertainty, the government often falls back on “swadeshi” (literally, of one’s own country) rhetoric — echoing the controlled economic instincts of the Jawaharlal Nehru-Indira Gandhi era that Modi himself frequently blames for India’s long-term economic woes.
Many economists and political analysts believe that repeated electoral victories and the weakness of opposition parties have made the government either overconfident or increasingly apathetic toward the middle class. Stagnant job creation, limited tax relief, shrinking subsidies, and periodic increases in the prices of essential commodities have deepened frustration. At the same time, fears of investigative agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate or the Central Bureau of Investigation being used against critics have discouraged open dissent among sections of the middle class.
But global instability — from the Iran-Israel-U.S. tensions to severe tariffs imposed by the second Donald Trump administration — appears to have intensified economic anxieties. The sudden rise of the CJP reflects this simmering frustration finally finding an outlet.
Surjit Bhalla, economist and former executive director at the IMF, recently challenged the narrative of India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. He noted that since 2014, India ranks far lower globally in per capita GDP growth than political rhetoric suggests, arguing that “no matter how one slices the data, it is time to dispense with the moniker of the fastest-growing major economy.” According to Bhalla, the government is applying “band-aid” solutions to deeper structural problems instead of undertaking serious reforms.
Columnist Tavleen Singh sees another reason behind the popularity of the CJP: growing frustration among young Indians with the established political class. The biggest problem, she argued, is the absence of adequate jobs for educated young Indians aspiring to a higher standard of living.
“There has been a huge jump in prosperity at the very top and millions of very poor Indians have been lifted out of poverty because of welfare schemes and generous handouts at election time. But, for the people in the middle there has been little change and now that dark clouds hover over the world economy, a deep desperation is beginning to grow and spread,” she wrote in the Indian Express.
The Indian middle class no longer wishes to remain trapped in Kafka’s dingy room. It wants a seat at the dining table of prosperity and policymaking. Whether the government chooses inclusion or responds with hostility — like Gregor Samsa’s father hurling apples at him — will determine whether this anger fades away or hardens into something far more politically consequential.
