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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

CJP’s digital insurgency traded karyakarta for attention capital. It’s everywhere and nowhere

The Modi government’s panic over Cockroach Janta Party is palpable because it is trained to fight tangible enemies—people it can arrest or buy. But how do you put an algorithm behind bars?

New Delhi’s traditional newsrooms hardly have a clue about the typhoon currently ripping through Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar or the countless other cities across the country. They’re staring at the rise of the Cockroach Janata Party and dismissing it as “Gen-Z noise” or a social media fever. That’s a massive blunder. Walk into any cafe in Sambhajinagar, listen to the youth deliberating over their cappuccinos, and the failure of our political elite and analysts is glaring. We’re witnessing the most significant structural pivot in Indian politics since 1991. This isn’t just a digital insurgency; it’s a key moment in Indian politics. We’ve ditched the 18th-century mass mobilisation for the era of algorithmic sovereignty.

Look at the numbers. As of 22 May 2026, the CJP has officially overtaken the BJP on Instagram, with over 20 million followers and counting. The BJP’s digital machinery still operates on the old doctrine of “message redundancy.” As journalist Swati Chaturvedi writes in her book, I am a Troll, it is characterised by brute force, massive budgets, and a top-down broadcast model that clogs your feed. The CJP, with barely any posts, have traded the old-school........

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