The Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) website satirically describes it as a “voice of lazy and unemployed”. The movement was born out of the outrage that started after controversial remarks by Chief Justice Surya Kant comparing unemployed youth to “cockroaches”.
Here are the five things to know about CJP
#1: Who founded CJP?
30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke started the movement, which has now exploded across social media. The name Cockroach Janta Party is a tongue-in-cheek play on the ruling party, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).
Who is Abhijeet Dipke?
According to an India Today report, he was on his way to apply for jobs in Boston when he changed his plans after the CJI's remark.
“I think it was more triggering because it 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,” he told the outlet.
#2: CJP has more followers than BJP - on Instagram
In the latest turn of events, the party’s Instagram page has accumulated over 11 million followers with just 56 posts. In comparison, the BJP Instagram account has 18,409 posts with close to 8.8 million followers.
#3: What is it all about?
{{/usCountry}}In the latest turn of events, the party’s Instagram page has accumulated over 11 million followers with just 56 posts. In comparison, the BJP Instagram account has 18,409 posts with close to 8.8 million followers.
#3: What is it all about?
{{/usCountry}}“A political party for the people the system forgot to count. Five demands. Zero sponsors. One large, stubborn swarm,” reads a tagline on the CJP’s website.
The official vision of the satirical political outfit reads, “We are not here to set up another PM CARES, holiday in Davos on the taxpayer's salary slip, or rebrand corruption as "strategic spending." We are here to ask — loudly, repeatedly, in writing — where the money went.”
As for the mission, it explains: “Build a party for the young people who keep getting called lazy, chronically online, and — most recently — cockroaches. That's it. That's the mission. The rest is satire.”
#4: “Read it and read it again”
CJP’s website features a detailed manifesto with the explicit instruction: “Read it once. Read it twice. Then send it to someone who needs to read it.”
#5: Can anyone join the party?
The website explains, “We do not check religion, caste, or gender. We do, however, have four (4) standards.”
The outfit’s four criteria include being unemployed, lazy, chronically online and having the ability to “rant professionally”.
The website further explains, “Membership is free, lifelong, and revocable only by you. No fees. No selfies with the leader. No ‘missed call to register’.”