Pod Save the World

Snapshot · Pod Save the World

Starmer Brexits

Explore episode Jun 24, 2026
Society & Culture
Cockroach movement: 22M followers in 7 days

Starmer Brexits · Jun 24, 2026

India's Cockroach Janta Party Instagram page gained 22 million followers within just seven days of launching — more than Modi, the ruling party, or any opposition party in India.

Where this was said

Interview: India's Cockroach Movement with Rana Ayyub

At 1:08:30 · chapter starts 1:06:00

Ben introduces Rana Ayyub, the investigative journalist and Washington Post columnist, for a check-in on Indian politics. She explains the Cockroach Janta Party origin story: India's Chief Justice made an off-the-cuff remark comparing unemployed youth who file court applications to cockroaches 'festering everywhere.' Rather than taking it as an insult, India's youth turned it into a satirical movement — 'We the Cockroaches' — with a five-point agenda targeting corruption, education, and hierarchical inequality. The Instagram page reached 22 million followers within seven days, organically, surpassing Modi, the BJP, and every opposition party in India. The BJP's response was immediate: the Twitter and Instagram accounts were banned on national security grounds, with Modi's party claiming many followers were Pakistani. The Cockroach Janta Party published its follower list to show they are overwhelmingly Indian. Ayyub explains the movement is walking a careful tightrope — deliberately avoiding the kind of confrontational street-protest posture that triggered government crackdowns in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal — but has captured something real about youth disenchantment with unemployment, corruption, and a government that treats activism as treason.

Society & Culture
India's Cockroach Movement Explained

Starmer Brexits · Jun 24, 2026 Society & Culture

India's Chief Justice called unemployed youth 'cockroaches.' Within 7 days, the satirical Cockroach Janta Party had 22 million Instagram followers — more than Modi or any political party. The government immediately tried to ban it, citing national security and claiming Pakistani backing.

Similar snapshots

Society & Culture
Private adoption costs $40,000–$70,000

Tortilla Face · Aug 10, 2026

Private domestic infant and international adoptions typically cost $40,000 to $70,000, while foster care adoption is the most affordable route at $0 to $2,000.

Society & Culture
7th of 10 children

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby Hoffman is the 7th of 10 children raised in a Hasidic household in Montreal, where the family was poor and comedy was a survival mechanism.

Society & Culture
No concept of 'too soon'

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby's Hasidic community had no concept of 'too soon' in comedy — if it was funny, you threw it, and if you bombed, your sibling told you immediately.