Cockroach Janta Party's X account withheld in India hours after it surpasses BJP on Instagram with nearly 13 million followers

Hours after Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) surpassed BJP in terms of followers on Instagram, its X account was withheld in India. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke wrote in a post on X, "As expected, Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India" (sic). The CJP's X handle had more than 2 lakh followers and was followed by Arundhati Roy, Prashant Bhushan, Dhruv Rathee, Kunal Kamra, and others.



CJP is a satirical political online movement that emerged last week and had taken the internet by storm with over 6 lakh registrations till its X account was withheld in India. However, its Instagram account remains active with more than 12 million followers at the time of filing this report.


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CJP surpasses BJP on Instagram

CJP officially surpassed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Instagram follower count and garnered more than 12 million followers just within four days of its launch. As of Thursday, the CJP handle boasts 13 million followers, eclipsing the BJP’s 8.7 million, at the time of filing this report. While the BJP has maintained its account with over 18,000 posts, the CJP reached its record-breaking following with a 56 posts.

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Cockroach Janta Party founder

Cockroach Janta Party was founded by Abhijeet Dipke, who is currently in US pursuing Masters degree in public relations. Abhijeet Dipke is a 30-year-old Indian political communication strategist and founder of CJP.

He is known for his work in digital political messaging, online narrative building, and election campaign strategy.

Dipke completed his undergraduate degree in journalism in Pune before moving to the United States for higher education. He recently graduated from Boston University with a two-year master’s degree in Public Relations.

Between 2020 and 2023, he worked with Aam Aadmi Party and was involved in the party’s social media and election campaign operations. During the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, when the party led by Arvind Kejriwal secured a major victory, the then-24-year-old Dipke contributed to meme-driven digital campaigns for AAP.

Dipke told India Today that he is currently in the US and the inception of the Cockroach Janata Party was not planned.

“And as I told you, none of this was planned. If I had planned it, I wouldn’t be doing it from the US. I would have been in India. But I want to underline this: this has happened because of the frustration young people have carried for many years. India has the largest young population, and the majority of that young population is out of the workforce,” he said.

What is Cockroach Janta Party?

The platform that started as a joke after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant described young, unemployed Indians as ‘like cockroaches’. The manifesto released by CJP includes several major political reform proposals, including a ban on post-retirement Rajya Sabha seats for former chief justices, 50% reservation for women in Parliament without increasing the strength of the House, and a 20-year political ban on elected representatives who switch parties after winning elections.