E-Paper
X withholds CJP account in India, platform says done due to a ‘legal demand’
The account, with username CJP_2029, is showing ‘Account Withheld’ in bold letters, when opened.
The X (formerly Twitter) account of satirical political outfit Cockroach Janata Party has been withheld in India after it gained substantial popularity on social media in matter of just a few days and even overtook Bharatiya Janata Party's following on Instagram.
The founder of the outfit, Abhijeet Dipke, shared a photo of the pop up showing when opening the X account and wrote in the caption, “As expected Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India.”
The account, with username CJP_2029, is showing ‘Account Withheld’ in bold letters, followed by “@CJP_2029 has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”
Also read: Who is Abhijeet Dipke, the Boston-educated founder of Cockroach Janata Party?
This setback for Cockroach Janta Party, also called CJP, comes just when the outfit was gaining momentum for its satirical stance on Indian politics.
However, just hours later, another account popped up with the name ‘Cockroach is Back’ and has so far got over 21k followers on X in just a little over an hour. The profile reads ‘Cockroaches don’t die!’.
The first post on the new account said, ‘You thought you can get rid of us? Lol’.
Why the account was withheld
According to X, such action is taken if the platform receives a “valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity” and when “it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.”
Also read: Cockroach Janata Party >>> Bharatiya Janata Party. At least on Instagram
“Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s),” it said.
CJP overtakes BJP on Instagram
The Cockroach Janata Party gained massive popularity on social media just days after it was formed and currently has massive follower base of 13.5 million on Instagram.
In a post, the outfit took a jibe at the BJP early Thursday and said that it just took them four days to overtake BJP in follower count.
Also read: Cockroach Janata Party vs National Parasitic Front: The new political battle brewing in India
“World’s largest party they said,” the caption read.
How the CJP came into being
The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by Abhijeet Dipke after online backlash on Chief Justice Surya Kant's remarks comparing some unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites”.
The satirical political outfit says that the criteria to join it includes being “unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and ability to rant professionally”.
Who is Abhijeet Dipke?
The ‘founding president’ of CJP, Abhijeet Dipke, is a 30-year-old political communication strategist and has previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party where he worked for the party’s social media and election campaign operations.
A few minutes after CJP's X account was withheld, Dipke shared another screenshot of a mail from Instagram asking him if he was facing any trouble logging into the account.
He alleged that attempts were being made to hack the Instagram account of CJP.
