Indians Gave Belarusians Some Ideas On How To Celebrate Maslenitsa

• 13.11.2026, 16:00

A giant cockroach was burned in a square in New Delhi.

During the Vijayadasami festival in India’s capital, a nine-meter-tall cockroach effigy was burned. The effigy was set up in the Pitampur neighborhood of New Delhi, next to traditional effigies of demonic characters from the *Ramayana*. This unusual display appeared amid protests by supporters of the “People’s Cockroach Party”—a satirical youth movement that emerged in May 2026, according to Telegram channel “Basta!”.

The organizer of the festival, Ashok Goel, a lawmaker from the ruling party, denies any political motivation behind the event. According to him, the cockroach symbolizes social filth, and the burning of the effigies represents the victory of good over evil.

Belarusians will immediately recall a traditional symbol of the Maslenitsa folk celebration—the effigy of winter, which is burned on the Sunday before the start of Great Lent—as well as the 2020 protests, one of whose main slogans was “Stop the Cockroach.”