Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth led movement that got nationwide buzz through social media, has said it will name public policy professional and political activist Ashutosh Ranka as one of its official spokespersons, ahead of what it calls its proposed protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 6. Ranka will team up with investigative journalist Saurav Das and political researcher filmmaker Vijeta Dahiya to run the movements public outreach, and handle the media engagement side. This appointment looks like a big shift for the group, moving away from being only a viral online campaign to something more organized that aims to make louder those worries around unemployment, examination irregularities and governance issues, which are hitting young Indians especially.
Who Is Ashutosh Ranka?Â
Originally from Jaipur, Rajasthan, Ashutosh Ranka brings this mix of academic and professional experience into the movement. Based on what’s on his publicly available profile, he graduated with a B.Tech in Materials Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur, and there he also served as President of the Students’ Gymkhana for 2016-17. After that, he pursued a Masters in Public Administration at the London School of Economics, LSE, and then he joined McKinsey & Company in London, focusing on advising organizations around strategy, plus operational matters. Later on, Ranka left the corporate world and came back to India, where he got involved with public policy, governance, and some social advocacy initiatives as well.
Cockroach Janta Party announces three spokespersons who will speak on behalf of the protest movement to the public and the media.
Investigative journalist Saurav Das will take on the role of Chief Spokesperson. Political researcher, author and filmmaker Vijeta Dahiya, and an…
— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) June 3, 2026
What After IIT and LSE?
Over the past few years, Ranka has been taking part in campaign stuff that is kinda connected to education reform, environmental protection and youth welfare, especially around Rajasthan. He has also often discussed things like examination controversies, how transparent public institutions should be, and the idea of citizen accountability, not just in theory but in practice. Besides grassroots activism, he’s written opinion articles on governance, economics, and public policy for different media platforms and he keeps an active social media presence too. Now, with his appointment as spokesperson, the Cockroach Janta Party seems to be trying to open up for wider public engagement, like it wants to channel the rising young people’s concerns into a more organised, and visible movement.Â
About Cockroach Janta Party
The Cockroach Janata Party came about after a lot of public outrage connected to remarks said to be by judge, and many young people read it as comparing unemployed youth to ‘cockroaches’. What started out as a social media kind of venting of frustration, and not much else, soon turned into a wider stage looking at things like job scarcity, recruitment delays, exam related controversies and also whether public institutions are answerable or not. Now, as the movement gets ready for a major public demonstration, the leadership has started putting more formal organisational roles in place, while also tightening up the communication with supporters ,and with the media.
