What set the Cockroach movement protests apart was not simply their scale. The Cockroach protests have created a rare political opening against Modi. The biggest lesson of last month’s protests in India is that the political atmosphere has changed. When public anger is met with coercion, the rulers may regain short-term order while losing longer-term political legitimacy to govern. These protests mattered because they revealed both the fragility of Modi’s political aura and the continued possibility of democratic pressure in India.