Environmentalist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk on Saturday voiced support for the online “cockroach” movement led by the self-styled “Cockroach Janata Party” (CJP), describing himself as an “honorary cockroach” while urging the government to engage with the concerns being raised by youngsters instead of suppressing their digital expression.

The online campaign, which uses satire and the imagery of a cockroach as a symbol of resilience and dissent, has gained traction in recent days amid allegations by its founders of a crackdown on their social media presence, including account suspensions and hacking incidents. The movement has positioned itself around issues such as unemployment, exam paper leaks and public accountability.

Speaking to PTI, Wangchuk said the campaign should be viewed as democratic feedback rather than a threat, and praised what he described as the creativity of young Indians in expressing frustration through satire instead of violence.

“Such creative expressions by our youth are nothing to worry about and nothing to be afraid of. The government should take the message — don’t kill the messenger,” he said, adding that the concerns raised by the movement deserved attention rather than suppression.

Asked whether he would formally join the movement, Wangchuk replied in a lighter vein that he did not qualify for membership as he was “neither unemployed nor lazy”, but still considered himself an “honorary cockroach”.

Drawing parallels with political cartoons and newspaper caricatures, Wangchuk argued that humour and symbolism were legitimate democratic tools and should be seen as feedback rather than hostility towards the government.

He also warned against attempts to suppress online dissent, saying shutting down accounts or curbing digital expression could deepen frustration among young people and potentially push anger in more dangerous directions. Referring to political unrest in Nepal, he said restricting online expression could have unintended consequences.

Wangchuk said issues such as alleged exam paper leaks and demands for accountability should not be dismissed, noting that such concerns routinely trigger ministerial resignations in other countries. He further urged youngsters to remain peaceful while appealing to the government not to “push” them towards confrontation.

Amid Wangchuk’s remarks, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke alleged a coordinated crackdown on the satirical digital outfit, claiming it had lost access to all of its social media accounts following a series of takedowns and hacking incidents.

In a post on X, Dipke claimed that his personal Instagram account had also been hacked. His remarks came two days after the CJP’s account on X was withheld in India, prompting him to create a new account.

The outfit on Friday launched a campaign seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged systemic failures in the education sector and the NEET-UG 2026 paper “leak”. Later in the day, Dipke claimed he had received death threats and shared screenshots of the messages online.

On Saturday, Dipke listed what he described as coordinated action against the movement, alleging that its Instagram page had been hacked, its X accounts withheld or removed, and that the group no longer had access to any of its platforms.

He urged followers not to treat any new posts from those accounts as official statements from the CJP. The organisation’s website was also inaccessible on Saturday, with Dipke linking the alleged crackdown to the group’s recent campaign.