These days, trends move at a dizzying pace. Beyond fashion, beyond even art, this is now happening in politics too - just ask India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who has found himself facing a curious opposition group.
The Cockroach Janta Party describes itself as a group fighting for the rights of young people in the country, to tackle youth unemployment and challenge the stagnation of today's society. The movement has been highly critical of the Indian government and its popularity is growing beyond all metrics: over 23 million followers on social media in just a few days. And the Prime Minister is beginning to take notice.
Its creation was a response to Modi's own mockery of young people, which led to death threats against its founder, Abhijeet Dipke (30), and condemnation from politicians in the ruling party. Naturally, this served as fuel to stoke the fire of the trending train. According to Reuters, in practice this group is poorly organised, but despite the organisational chaos and its limited presence beyond social media, its very existence is a clear sign of discontent on the streets, exacerbated in recent times by the fuel shortages caused by the war in Iran.
Dipke has been living outside India, in the United States, for the past two years, having received numerous death threats. Despite this, he continues to keep the flame of anti-corruption alive. He also managed to recover the movement's Instagram account, which had been hacked, but the Cockroach Janta Party remains banned on X. Dipke stated that his followers want him to go beyond memes and that he is exploring ways to turn the campaign into a credible movement, but no decision has yet been made on whether it will become a political party.