‘Democracy won’: Meet the lawyers backing student protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar

What began as a satirical social media page inspired by a courtroom remark soon flared up into one of India’s biggest student-led protest movements of the year. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), born after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s May 15 remark comparing some unemployed people to “cockroaches”, evolved from an online campaign, turning into weeks of nationwide protests over the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear pleas challenging the police crackdown on the protests, days after the Gen Z protesters claimed their biggest political victory yet with the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25. But amid the placards, slogans and celebrations at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, another group quietly but resolutely became an int