Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday said the rapid rise of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which has captured the imagination of Gen Z on social media, reflected growing disillusionment with mainstream Opposition parties.
Calling for a need to “rethink and reimagine the young voter”, the former Rajya Sabha MP said, “Clearly, there is anger against BJP but voters would rather bet on a new figment-of-imagination party than established opposition parties, which is unfortunate. We really need to rethink and reimagine the young voter — we owe it to them and India’s future.”
Several opposition leaders echoed Chaturvedi’s remarks, interpreting the CJP’s dominance across social media platforms as a sign of mounting frustration among India’s youth with conventional politics.
The Cockroach Janata Party, a satirical digital outfit founded by Abhijeet Dipke, emerged last week and went viral online. The movement gained traction after a controversy involving Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who was reported to have used the words “parasites” and “cockroaches” while criticising a lawyer during a hearing on senior designations.
The CJI later clarified that his remarks had been misquoted and were specifically aimed at individuals entering the legal profession using “fake and bogus degrees”.
The party’s X account was withheld in India on Thursday, following which another handle titled “Cockroach is Back” surfaced online with the tagline: “Cockroaches Don’t Die.”
Shashi Tharoor called the rise of the CJP “intriguing”, saying it reflected growing frustration among young Indians. He also criticised the decision to withhold the account on X, arguing that democracies must allow space for dissent, satire, humour and public frustration.
While uncertain about the movement’s long-term future, Tharoor expressed hope that the energy behind it would eventually translate into mainstream political engagement or voter participation, calling it “an opportunity that the Opposition must seize”.
Mehbooba Mufti said the meme-driven trend underscored India’s need for a “revolution”, adding that Gen Z appeared to be leading that change.
“For the first time in a long while, one can see some light at the end of the tunnel, young people refusing to be trapped in hatred, division, and manufactured politics,” she wrote on X.
Akhilesh Yadav positioned the CJP as a direct challenge to the BJP, writing: “Tell the tyrannical rulers today that the revolution was never bound by restrictions.”
A similar sentiment was echoed by several opposition figures, including Mahua Moitra, who congratulated Dipke for building one of the largest Instagram followings in such a short period. She also criticised the blocking of the CJP’s X account, saying attempts to suppress humour and satire often create stronger resistance.
AAP leader Manish Sisodia termed the online movement “complete dhamaal” and jokingly identified himself as a “cockroach”.
“When the full system is controlled by crocodiles and the system has been made into a gutter, cockroaches will obviously unite,” Sisodia remarked.
Dipke is a public relations graduate who had previously volunteered for the Aam Aadmi Party’s social media cell.
Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan urged the movement to channel its massive online support towards real-world issues, including the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, accountability in the education system, and the demand for a Right to Employment law.
So far, no senior BJP leader has officially commented on the Cockroach Janata Party. But several right-wing and pro-government social media accounts have pushed back against the trend by targeting Dipke personally rather than engaging with the movement itself.
Among the claims circulated online were references to Dipke currently residing in the US, with critics alleging that he was disconnected from India’s realities. Old photographs and posts showing Dipke alongside Sisodia during his stint with AAP’s social media operations were also widely shared.
Some pro-BJP handles further alleged that the CJP was an engineered proxy project of the Aam Aadmi Party, while others circulated screenshots claiming that a significant portion of the Instagram account’s followers were based in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and the US, fuelling allegations of a possible “foreign hand” behind the viral movement.