The fastest-growing political movement in the world’s largest democracy is named after a pest, and its founder has barely slept in three days.

On May 15, India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant lamented during an open court hearing that “there are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession.” He later clarified he was referring to people with fraudulent degrees.

Nobody cared about the clarification.

Within 24 hours, 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke posted a question on X: “What if all cockroaches come together?” He followed it up with a website, social media accounts, and a four-point eligibility criteria — unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and capable of ranting professionally. The Cockroach Janta Party — a play on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — was born.

Three days later, its Instagram account has crossed 3 million followers. More than 350,000 people have signed up for membership. Among them: opposition parliamentarian Mahua Moitra, former parliamentarian Kirti Azad, and retired federal bureaucrat Ashish Joshi, who told Al Jazeera the movement is “like a breath of fresh air” in a country where “people are scared to speak.”

The speed tells you everything. India produces over 8 million graduates a year, yet the unemployment rate among them stands at 29.1 percent — nine times the rate for those who never attended school, according to data cited by Al Jazeera. Kant’s word hit a nerve that was already raw, during a week that saw nationwide student protests over exam paper leaks.

Dipke, speaking to DW from Chicago, said the movement is “no longer a satire or a joke.” He built it with AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT, designing a manifesto that takes aim at voter manipulation, pliant corporate media, and the revolving door between the judiciary and government posts.

The contrast writes itself. Those in power called citizens cockroaches. The citizens replied: fine, cockroaches survive. The party’s Instagram bio identifies it as “a union of lazy, unemployed cockroaches.” Its motto on X reads: “Secular – Socialist – Democratic – Lazy.”

The movement is now planning its first virtual convention. India’s ruling party has yet to respond.