By M.K.George
Rome, June 7, 2026: I do not mean to sound parochial or ethnically biased in asking this question.
In the context of Pope Leo’s recent call to ground discernment on Artificial Intelligence in Catholic Social Teaching, and the emergence of the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP), one question keeps returning: where are the Catholic youth shaped by Catholic Social Teaching—those who might question, collaborate creatively, and help build a more just and humane India?
What is CJP all about?
The simplest way to understand the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) is to see it as a “Gen-Z-led protest and satire movement that emerged from online culture and has now begun organising real-world demonstrations around unemployment, education, and government accountability.”
On 6 June 2026, it held its first offline meeting in Delhi, where hundreds gathered to protest against the apathy of the ruling elite towards the real problems of India’s youth.
It is interesting that the organisers had asked each one to bring flowers, clearly indicating that this protest was to be a peaceful one.
But the movement is also a symptom of something deeper.
It all started with a controversial remark attributed to the Chief Justice of India, where he compared unemployed youth in India to cockroaches.
He said, “These are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment and don’t have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some become RTI [Right to Information Act, 2005] activists, and they start attacking everyone.”
Understandably, the Chief Justice later came out with an explanation claiming that he was misrepresented.
The outrage is not occurring in a vacuum. The reality is that the political communications strategist Abhijeet Dipke, who launched the CJP, has successfully turned an insult into a symbol of resilience and protest. And it is no wonder that this is happening.
In the high-voltage hype of India being the “fourth-largest economy in the world,” its leader being a “Vishwa guru,” — world teacher — and the “captured mainstream media” showering glowing praise on the government, the realities are indeed different.
For example, according to Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Adviser, “India’s official GDP growth may be overstated in recent years, and the true growth rate could be significantly lower than reported figures.”
Similarly, Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the RBI, remarks that “the challenge for India is not just to grow fast, but to create enough good jobs for its young population. Growth without employment will not be sustainable.”
While objective analysts agree that India’s economy is one of the fastest growing, and that absolute poverty has come down, the real concern is whether this rapid growth translates into broad-based prosperity, employment, and rising living standards for hundreds of millions of people.
The answer is a definite NO. As Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen observed, “the tolerance for that idea (rising inequality) is worrying.”
NEET-CBSE exam crises
Economic anxieties are only one layer of the story. Adding fuel to the fire of youth unrest in India are the recent crises in the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) and CBSE exams.
The sheer inefficiency and/or corruption in these systems have led to hundreds of students committing suicide (though there is no official data on this), and thousands more have become frustrated across the country.
The saddest part is that since 2024 there have been allegations of leakages and malpractices, and the government failed to act in time.
In CBSE as well, over the last two years or more, there have been allegations of uneven paper difficulty across sets, marking inconsistencies, cybersecurity concerns in evaluation systems, and claims of student data exposure from the digital marking platform.
Sadly, despite these major failures and human tragedies, no heads have rolled yet, accountability has remained absent, and it is therefore no wonder that one of the CJP demands is for the Education Minister to resign.
An alert youth
Two Class 12 students, Vedant Srivastava and Sarthak Sidhant, and 19-year-old ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikay were alert enough to bring out marking errors, administrative and tender issues, and technical security flaws.
Their individual findings created a combined narrative of systemic failure in CBSE’s digital exam system.
A reminder, perhaps, that the power of change still belongs to the young.
Against this backdrop, the question of youth engagement becomes sharper.
Pope Leo has consistently asked the youth not to be passive or cynical. He has called on them to actively build peace, bridge divisions, and shape a better world through action, dialogue, and responsibility.
He reminded the youth: “You are the sign that a different world is possible.”
The question is no longer whether Catholic youth in India are many. It is whether they are present where public life is being reshaped.
Indian Jesuit Father George Mutholil, based in Rome, serves as the Society of Jesus’ General Counsellor and Regional Assistant for South Asia. He advises on matters specific to this region while also supporting the Superior General on broader issues of governance.
(Photo: Screengrab from Cockroach Janta Party’s website)