New Delhi, May 21: The X account of the satirical digital platform ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ was withheld in India on Thursday, days after the handle went viral on social media over its political satire and youth-centric content.
Soon after the restriction, founder Abhijeet Dipke launched a new X handle named ‘Cockroach Is Back’ and said the team would challenge the action legally.
“This was expected since there were attempts to hack the account yesterday. But this is a self-goal by the government,” Dipke said, adding that the new handle gained over 16,000 followers within little more than an hour.
According to Dipke, the original ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ account had over 2 lakh followers on X before being withheld in India.
The platform emerged after controversy surrounding remarks made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a hearing on May 15, where he allegedly referred to some individuals as “cockroaches” and “parasites” while criticising a plea related to senior designation of lawyers.
The CJI later clarified that his remarks were misquoted and were aimed specifically at people entering the legal profession through “fake and bogus degrees”.
The satirical platform, launched a day after the remarks, quickly gained popularity among young social media users through memes, graphics and commentary focused on unemployment, examination paper leaks, education and governance issues.
While the X account became inaccessible in India, its Instagram page continued to remain active and reportedly had around 14.3 million followers on Thursday.
Dipke, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, alleged that attempts were also being made to hack the platform’s Instagram account.
Several other handles using the ‘cockroach’ tag, including ‘The Cockroach Youth’, ‘Cockroach News’ and ‘Cockroach Party of India’, remained active on X.
The platform also runs a website describing itself as a “political party for the people the system forgot to count” and calls itself the “Voice of the Lazy & Unemployed”.
The movement attracted attention from politicians, activists and public figures, including TMC leaders Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad, as well as activists Prashant Bhushan and Anjali Bharadwaj, who engaged with or expressed support for the campaign.
The development has triggered wider debate on digital dissent, satire and the growing role of meme culture in contemporary political discourse. (Agencies)
