India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement makes schools next battleground against Modi

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that India’s Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a pressure group led by founder Abhijeet Dipke, has shifted its campaign from protesting the federal government to scrutinizing conditions in government-run schools. The movement says supporters are being asked to visit nearby public schools and assess basics such as drinking water, toilets, electricity, classroom condition, boundary walls, safety, midday meals and teacher attendance. The group frames this as a “Fix the Schools” drive aimed at highlighting long-standing gaps in India’s public education system.

The article says the new campaign turned violent in Bankura district, West Bengal, after Abdul Hafeez visited the primary school he once attended on August 13. Hafeez said local BJP workers later attacked him and his father at home; his father died two days later from injuries. West Bengal’s BJP chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, denied party links to the attackers and said action would be taken. Hafeez told Al Jazeera he would continue demanding justice and better schooling.

Al Jazeera places the campaign in the wider context of the CJP’s recent success in pressuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, including the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan after weeks of protest. The article also notes that in Rajasthan, where the BJP also governs, authorities moved to restrict outsiders from entering schools and taking photos or videos, citing privacy and warning of legal action against surveys.

The piece suggests the movement is gaining attention through social media and student-led complaints, while also exposing volunteers to risks in politically charged local disputes. Education experts quoted by Al Jazeera said India’s public school system faces deep structural problems and would need broader institutional reform, not just protests, to improve quality and accountability.