Cockroach Janta Party founder alleges Indian government censorship after website takedown

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’, alleges threats and censorship following the takedown of his youth-led satirical political outfit’s website

Updated - June 21, 2026 11:15 am IST | New Delhi

By Amarjot Kaur

The official website of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led satirical political outfit, was taken down on Saturday (May 23, 2026) at 9 a.m.

Accusing the Indian Government of orchestrating the takedown, CJP’s founder, 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke, wrote on social media platform X that the organisation’s website had garnered nearly 10 lakh members. In the same post, he claimed that over six lakh people had signed a petition on Friday (May 22, 2026) demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.

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From Google form to viral movement

Formed on May 16 as an exercise in political satire following Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s controversial “cockroach” remark (which he later clarified), the Cockroach Janta Party rapidly evolved from a Google form circulated on Mr. Dipke’s X account into a full-fledged online movement. Within days, the CJP expanded to a website and an Instagram account that amassed 22.1 million followers — surpassing the online following of every major political party in India.

The CJP’s meteoric rise over the course of a week triggered intense reactions online, ranging from admiration and ridicule to political suspicion. This period also saw:

• Multiple CJP-linked accounts being flooded online
• Allegations of death threats against Mr. Dipke and his family
• Accusations that the outfit’s social media handles had been hacked or withheld

On May 21, the CJP’s X account, which had over two lakh followers, was withheld in India. Mr. Dipke later launched a new account titled ‘Cockroach Is Back’, which has clocked 2.1 lakh followers (as on May 23, 8:15 p.m.).

‘Satire and youth are not a national threat’

Speaking to The Hindu over a phone call from the U.S., where he is based, Mr. Dipke said:

“A national daily reported that my X account was blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following a direction from the Centre, in the wake of inputs from the Intelligence Bureau that raised ‘national security concerns’. It’s one thing that this outfit is a satire, perceived as a national threat, and another that it comprises the country's youth. Are you saying that satire and the youth of this country are a national threat? Today, I woke up to having lost all access to my personal account on Instagram and also the CJP’s account on the social media platform. Attempts to hack into my accounts have been made for three days now.”

In a post on X, Mr. Dipke wrote:

“You can hack and withhold the accounts but you cannot hack this movement. We are not going to stop and we will keep raising our voice against this autocracy. Every attack makes cockroaches stronger. We are working on a plan to get this movement to continue sustainably and take…”

— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke), May 23, 2026