Delhi protest: Instagram briefly blocks Cockroach Janta Party's handle, now restored

Meta's Instagram on Thursday blocked the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) Instagram handle briefly, before restoring its access. This comes a day after protests led by the group against union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan turned violent.

CJP president Abhijeet Dipke posted on X, "Cockroach Janta Party’s Instagram account has been taken down by Narendra Modi." Minutes later, he wrote, "It has been restored now."



Earlier in the day, Meta said it 'mistakenly' blocked the WhatsApp account of CJP spokesperson Saurav Das due to issues with its automated moderation systems. "My WhatsApp account has been blocked! Can @WhatsApp tell me why and on whose direction it did so?!" Das said in a post on X. The account was restored later.

The protesters are demanding the resignation of Pradhan after the NEET paper leak and have refused to leave Jantar Mantar, with crowds swelling to several thousand people. "We will not leave Jantar Mantar until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns," CJP spokesman Ashutosh Ranka told cheering supporters.

"In the country where people had forgotten how to ask questions, in the country where criticising the government was considered treason -- we have now awakened that country."