Social media, apart from having such an integral existential presence, has become the most powerful political tool. The number of people hooked on social media is approaching six billion all over the world, which is four times the population of India, the most populated country in the world.

It’s not an exaggeration to say, elections are fought and won on social media, WhatsApp is potent propaganda tool, data is wealth. That’s why governments want to keep a tab on social media. The Indian government routinely makes tens of thousands of biannual data and content removal requests to major social media platforms like Meta and X—is only next to the American government.

But how can you tame the Lernaean Hydra that social media is become? It’s bigger than any state, shapes people’s views, belief system.

Strong public movements against the governments, mostly by the younger people, the Gen Z, driven by social media has galvanised so much political force, ushered regime-change in some smaller countries like Nepal and Bangladesh; even forced the mighty the BJP government in India headed by Narendra Modi to fire the education minister after protracted struggle of students for a month.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) mustered the support of millions of youths in India in just a couple of months of presence on social media. The youth descended on the streets of Delhi when clarion call was made, hundreds and thousands of them marched towards the parliament. The Jantar Mantar protests were spontaneous outpour of collective anger of the youth; the government capitulated.  

Anton Jäger, missed being a Gen Z by three years, is a Belgian historian, writer, and academic researcher. His book Hyper-politics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences helps understand social media driven movements. Hyper-politics to him is the intense politicisation without institutional roots or ambitions.

Jäger analyses some key features of such protests, across the globe, primarily the US. Referring to the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, or for that matter the mob that stormed the Capitol in January 2021. Jäger points out, though two movements were “morally…. worlds apart,” organisationally, had some “striking similarities.” They were fleeting in duration, maintain no membership rolls and struggle to impose any real discipline on their adherents. And when it happened, everything explodes, they were beyond control, surged suddenly forward and, yet, no territory is taken. Such modern movements, Jäger explains, are “concentrated and muscular, yet without an internal metabolism”.

CJP, formed on May 16, 2026, led the Jantar Mantar movement, barely a month after its formation, with the core agenda of enforcing government accountability, sweeping examination system reforms, and youth welfare following major competitive examination paper leaks. They succeeded in getting resignation of the of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. While CJP was at it, they have been accused of having a secret agenda, is part of Deep State conspiracy. No one takes such speculations seriously, particularly youth, but for those the movement targets. 

Many of their leaders, most prominent being Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das have in the past being associated with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). AAP entered the political scene by running a movement against corruption, and seeking greater accountability by strengthening the Right to Information Act. The movement saw a meteoric rise. They vowed not to enter the electoral politics, but did, won elections, and ran government in Delhi under Arvind Kejriwal for ten years, and have a government in place in the state of Punjab.

So, AAP defied Jäger categorisation, “surge suddenly forward and, yet, no territory is taken.” Will CJP follow suit, only time will tell.