Cockroach Janata Party’s X (Twitter) account was withheld in India on May 21 in response to a legal demand. Founder Abhijeet Dipke called it an “own goal” and flagged hacking attempts on the movement’s Instagram account, which has already surpassed the BJP in follower count.
X (formerly Twitter) account of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) was withheld in India on Thursday, with reported hacking attempts on Instagram as well. The X profile was withheld “in response to a legal demand,” the platform stated.
Founder Abhijeet Dipke did not appear surprised. He posted on X: “As expected, Cockroach Janata Party’s account has been withheld in India.” He followed that with two words: “Own goal.”
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Dipke is a 30-year-old political communications strategist from Pune, with a background in public relations and journalism. He was previously part of the Aam Aadmi Party’s social media team.
He founded the CJP on May 16, 2026, as a satirical response to remarks made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on May 15, 2026, in which the CJI compared unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites of society.”
During a Supreme Court hearing, CJI Surya Kant remarked: “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 CJI later clarified that his remark focused on people who enter the legal profession using fake and bogus degrees. The clarification did not stop the online movement from growing.
According to X’s guidelines, accounts are withheld when the platform receives a valid and properly scoped request from an authorised entity.
The platform states that “it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.” X adds that “such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s).”
No government authority has publicly confirmed issuing such a demand in this case.
Even before the X account was withheld, Dipke flagged a separate threat. In a video message, Dipke claimed that attempts had been made to compromise the party’s social media accounts. “Many attempts are being made to hack our account. I find it funny that these cowards are targeting young 20-21-year-old students,” he said.
He also alleged that the Instagram account faced similar targeting. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke alleged that attempts were made to target the movement online, with some users also alleging that hacking attempts targeted the party’s social media handles after its sudden popularity surge.
Despite the pressure, the CJP’s Instagram presence kept growing. Before the X account was withheld, the CJP had over 209,000 followers on X. At the time of writing this, it has 14 million followers on Instagram.
This put CJP ahead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s 8.8 million Instagram followers and the Congress’s 13.3 million. The party had existed for less than a week at this point.
The CJP received support from politicians including Mahua Moitra, Kirti Azad, and Prashant Bhushan.
The CJP’s manifesto targets key political pressure points; including no Rajya Sabha seats for retiring Chief Justices, UAPA charges for election commissioners who allow voter rolls to be deleted, a free press, and a 20-year ban from public office for party defectors.
Reports also indicated that CJP supporters were considering contesting the upcoming Bankipur Assembly by-election in Bihar.
The CJP has not been registered as a formal political party with the Election Commission of India. It remains an online satirical movement.
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