Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has expressed fascination with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a satirical political outfit launched recently that has gone viral on social media and accumulated millions of followers.
In a post on X, Tharoor said he understands the frustrations of young people and sees why they are connecting with the CJP. He also described the withholding of the X account of the satirical group as “deeply unwise”.
“I’m incredibly intrigued by the rise of #CockroachJantaParty, which has already reached more than 15 million followers on Instagram in just five days. I understand the frustrations of the youth and see why they are resonating with it. This is precisely why the account being withheld on X is disastrous and deeply unwise - there should be an outlet for the youth to express their feelings, and so, let CJP’s account function instead of shutting it down! Democracies need outlets for dissent, humour, satire and even frustration,” Tharoor wrote, while replying to another user commenting on a news article quoting the Thiruvananthapuram MP on the matter.
In an article published by the Indian Express, Shashi Tharoor said that the Cockroach Janata Party reflects that people are frustrated with the government. He also noted that it has demonstrated to the Opposition that there is “an opportunity waiting to be seized”.
Reiterating the same view in his X post, Tharoor said that it was an opportunity “that the Opposition must seize.”
“I am uncertain about the future of this movement, but I hope the youngsters behind it find a way to bring this energy into mainstream politics or perhaps express it through their vote to be a voice of change and, in doing so, become impossible to ignore. This is an opportunity that the Opposition must seize,” he wrote.
The Cockroach Janata Party
The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by a 30-year-old political communication strategist, Abhijeet Dipke, following online criticism of Chief Justice Surya Kant’s remarks comparing some unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites”.
The satirical political outfit states that its membership criteria include being “unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and able to rant professionally”.
The Cockroach Janata Party gained significant traction on social media shortly after its creation and currently has an Instagram following of 19.2 million.
In a post, the outfit mocked the BJP early Thursday, saying it took them just four days to surpass the BJP in follower count.
“World’s largest party they said,” the caption read.
Who is Abhijeet Dipke?
The ‘founding president’ of CJP, Abhijeet Dipke, is a 30-year-old political communication strategist who previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party, handling its social media and election campaign operations.
A few minutes after CJP’s X account was suspended, Dipke shared another screenshot of a message from Instagram asking whether he was facing trouble logging in.