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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

There’s never just one cockroach. Abhijeet Dipke only turned on the light

It is tempting to frame the CJP in the context of Vijay’s success in Tamil Nadu and Gen Z movements in Bangladesh, Nepal. But the same instances sound a cautionary note about the CJP.

A 30-year-old postgraduate student, Abhijeet Dipke, has shaken up the Indian political establishment. His nine-day-old Cockroach Janata Party or CJP has got politicians of all hues scurrying around—some in anger and panic and others in anticipation and hope. In the first category are the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. They see a foreign conspiracy, predictably. A minister suggests that the CJP’s followers are from “Pakistan and George Soros gang”.

Another BJP MP refers to Dipke’s Aam Aadmi Party background to warn the Opposition: “Will you take help from foreign powers to break the country?”

The Intelligence Bureau sees the CJP as a threat to national security, prompting the government to get its X account blocked.

The Opposition falls in the second category—delirious in anticipation of the youth turning against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finally. The CJP’s popularity—over 22 million Instagram followers within nine days—gives Opposition leaders hope. They are rushing to try to co-opt these cockroaches. The Karnataka Youth Congress is distributing “I am a cockroach” T-shirts. Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav sees in it a seed of revolution against the BJP.

ज़ुल्मी हुक्मरानों से कह दो आजबंदिशों में कब बंधा है ‘इंक़लाब’#BJP_बनाम_CJP pic.twitter.com/QJ3FyNc4W2— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) May 21, 2026

ज़ुल्मी हुक्मरानों से कह दो आजबंदिशों में कब बंधा है ‘इंक़लाब’#BJP_बनाम_CJP pic.twitter.com/QJ3FyNc4W2

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) May 21, 2026

Indian National Lok Dal legislator Arjun Chautala has declared himself the “first cockroach MLA”. His newly created email ID is cocrochmla@gmail.com. 

How realistic the hopes of these Opposition leaders are is a matter of debate. Yes, the CJP’s instant popularity shows the youth’s disillusionment with the Modi government. But is it going to benefit the Opposition? Many believe it won’t.

After all, millions of young people endorsing a newly floated satirical platform is also a manifestation of their exasperation with mainstream parties and politicians—including the Opposition.

Framing the rise of the cockroach

Many political observers are tempted to look at the CJP phenomenon in the context of actor Vijay’s success in the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, and also what happened in Bangladesh and Nepal. The same instances, however, sound a cautionary note about the........

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