Cockroach party beats BJP on the 'gram with 10 million followers in 5 days

What started as a satirical campaign is now overtaking India's most powerful political parties in online battles. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a meme-fuelled satirical political movement born out of outrage, irony, and online humour in response to the Chief Justice of India's remarks on youth, has crossed 15 million followers in just five days, overtaking the BJP by a massive lead on the platform. Read Full Story In a country where political dominance has been carefully cultivated over decades, the online party has managed to outpace the ruling party armed with nothing more than sarcasm, reels, and viral rage. It has now also surpassed India's oldest political party, the 143-year-old Congress, which previously had the highest follower count of 13.3 million on the Instagram. The account, operating under the handle @cockroachjantaparty, crossed the 15-million mark on Thursday. In contrast, the BJP's official Instagram account @bjp4india currently has around 8.7 million followers, while the Congress's account @incindia remains ahead with roughly 13.2 million followers. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), founded in 2012, has approximately 1.9 million followers. Both politicians and vocal non-politician backers or sympathisers of the Cockroach Janta Party include prominent YouTubers and social media influencers like Dhruv Rathee, veteran activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. TMC leaders Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad have also expressed their willingness to join the Cockroach Janta Party. Senior advocate and activist Prashant Bhushan called for the CJP to use its followers' surge to raise the issue of the NEET paper leak. "The Cockroach Janta Party has acquired 10.3M followers on Instagram in 4 days, more than the BJP. It has promise if steered wisely & imaginatively. It must, of course, raise NEET paper leak & seek accountability of Dharmendra Pradhan", Bhushan posted on X. He also asked the CJP to voice the need for the right to employment. "Time to demand a right to Employment law. All people between 21 and 60 must have the right to be employed at least the minimum wage, failing which they must receive unemployment allowance," he added on Thursday. There is a health warning here. Getting online followers is very different from getting people to join as members of a political party. Membership indicates on-ground presence. WHO IS ABHIJEET DIPKE, FOUNDER OF COCKROACH JANATA PARTY? The CJP's campaign first surfaced online on May 16 as a satirical youth movement responding to the controversial remarks of the Chief Justice of India () Surya Kant regarding sections of Indian youth. During a hearing on May 15, the referred to a lawyer's social media conduct, saying, "There are youngsters, like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists, and other activists, and they start attacking everyone." These remarks sparked massive outrage on social media and gave birth to the CJP, a campaign headed by its founder Abhijeet Dipke. "I think the remarks were more triggering because they came from the Chief Justice of India, who is the custodian of the Constitution, which grants us freedom of expression. Someone who is there to safeguard our freedom of expression is comparing us to cockroaches and parasites just for putting forward our opinions. That was the more hurtful part,” Dipke said in an exclusive interview with India Today TV on Wednesday. Dipke further argued that had similar remarks come from political leaders, the reaction may not have been as intense. "Had this comment been made by anybody else from the ruling party, which they normally do, it wouldn't have caused such a stir. But it came from someone who is supposed to protect our freedom of expression," Dipke added. However, the later issued a clarification of the cockroach statement on May 16, saying that he was "misquoted by a section of media". "I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday. What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar people have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticised the youth of our nation," Surya Kant said in his clarification. But the clarification did not settle down, and the CJP's social media outrage continued to battle the system. The CJP that initially appeared to be another fleeting meme page within days evolved into a full-fledged digital movement tapping into frustrations around unemployment, exam paper leaks, political accountability, and what many young users describe as a widening disconnect between institutions and Gen Z concerns. Describing itself as "a political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth,"