New Delhi, May 21: The X account of Cockroach Janata Party, the satirical digital outfit that came up last week and took social media by storm, was withheld in India on Thursday. Soon after, came another handle — ‘Cockroach is Back’ with the tagline ‘Cockroaches Don’t Die’.
“This (action) was expected since there were attempts to hack the account yesterday. But this is a self-goal by the government,” founder Abhijeet Dipke told PTI.
“I have now started a new account named ‘Cockroach Is Back’ on X,” Dipke added. He said the team would pursue the matter legally.
Around 6 pm on Thursday, a few hours after it started, the ‘Cockroach Is Back’ X handle had over 39,000 followers. It shared once again the demand for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Cockroach Janata Party, which according to Dipke had 201,000 followers on X, was born following a controversy over Chief Justice of India Surya Kant using “parasites” and “cockroaches” while pulling up a lawyer for his plea seeking senior designation.
The CJI later clarified that he was misquoted and his remarks were directed specifically at individuals entering the legal profession through “fake and bogus degrees”.
The account, which came into being a day after the CJI’s remarks on May 15, quickly went viral, attracting support from politicians, activists, artists and a large number of young and not so young social media users.
Though the X account is inaccessible in India, it can be accessed through VPN.
The platform’s Instagram page remains active with around over 15.6 million followers — and counting — by Thursday evening. A post from the X account ‘Cockroach is Back’ on Thursday drew comparisons with the official Bharatiya Janata Party account, which has approximately 8.8 million followers on the Meta-owned platform.
“The reason why they blocked us,” read the post, which also had an image of a cockroach munching on a lotus flower, the election symbol of the BJP.
“You thought you can get rid of us? Lol,” read another post.
The Instagram account of Cockroach Janata Party, which quickly became CJP for many, has also surpassed the following of opposition Congress that has 13.3 million followers.
Questioning the action against what he described as a satirical platform, Dipke said the account and the movement had been growing rapidly.
“The X handle and movement has been growing, getting thousands of followers every day’¦ perhaps that is what scared the government,” Dipke alleged,
Dipke, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Thursday posted on X that attempts were also being made to hack the Instagram account.
Several other accounts using the ‘cockroach’ nomenclature remain active on X. These include ‘The Cockroach Youth’, ‘Cockroach News’, ‘IAmCockroach’, ‘Cockroach Party of India’ and ‘Cockroach Janata Party (Gen Z)’.
What began as an online satire project has soon evolved into a wider conversation about contemporary protest and the role of humour and meme culture in it.
Using memes, the CJP platform gained traction through sharp political satire and commentary. Much of its content centres on youth concerns such as unemployment, examination paper leaks and education, packaged through graphics, animation, manifestos and charter-style demands.
The rapid rise drew attention not only from meme creators and young users but also from public figures who viewed it as a form of digital dissent.
Politicians, including TMC leaders Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad, engaged with or expressed interest in the movement alongside activists such as Prashant Bhushan and Anjali Bharadwaj.
Several activists and politicians criticised the action against CJP’s X handle.
“So much for haters & paid troll armies- truth & genuine followers win every time. CJP now has largest number of insta followers. Well done Abhijeet Dipke,” Moitra said.
CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asked if the government believed it could “stop GenZ by blocking social media handles of CJP”.
“What if the CJP launches an unfollow campaign against the BJP and NaMo handles? X must respect internet freedom and restore the Cockroach Janta Party handle without any delay,” he said on X.
Activist and politician Yogendra Yadav shared a video message, urging people to follow the CJP and unfollow government members.
“Those who cannot take a joke are themselves a joke. The ban on the Cockroach Janata Party shows that the government may look strong, but it is hollow,” he said in a video message in Hindi.
In its website, the CJP describes itself as a “political party for the people the system forgot to count. Five demands. Zero sponsors. One large, stubborn swarm”.
Complete with sections on ‘manifesto’, ‘vision’, ‘eligibility’ and ‘contact’, the website also declares that it is the “Voice of the Lazy & Unemployed”.
The CJI had said on May 15, “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone.”
The following day, he said in a strongly worded clarification, “I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday.” (PTI)
