5 min readAug 9, 2026 06:27 AM IST First published on: Aug 9, 2026 at 06:27 AM ISTIf I were young and Indian, I would be in the Cockroach Janta Party. Ironically, for the same reasons that I once became a Modi Bhakt. Having spent my entire life in the shabby, squalid, socialist country that was created under successive Congress prime ministers, I supported Modi because I thought he would bring radical changes to rectify what had gone wrong. Among the things that had gone most wrong was the inexplicable lack of investment in the human capital of this ancient land.It should surprise no political pundit that the cockroaches made education their first cause. The trigger was the leak of NEET exam papers, but it was only a trigger. The condition of ordinary government schools across India is truly awful. Last week, if you were watching the news channels, you would have seen children in Madhya Pradesh leaping from one pillar to the next to cross a raging dam while going to school. This state has been governed by a ‘double-engine’ government for more than a decade.