Indian authorities have sought to block the social media handles of the satirical “Cockroach People’s Party”, formed last week in response to comments from the country’s top judge seen as critical of young people.
The parody “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) — echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — was created after Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly called youth involved in criticism of the government “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a hearing.
He later said his comments, which spawned a slew of social media sites, were taken out of context and that he was referring to those who use fake degrees.
Abhijeet Dipke, 30, an Indian student at Boston University in the United States and a political communications strategist who formerly worked with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), created the fictional party online on May 16.
Its popularity soared, using the slogan “a political front for the youth, by the youth, for the youth”.
On X, it gained 218,000 followers. It was soon blocked in India before a new account was created.
That X handle, titled “Cockroach is Back”, rapidly generated nearly 150,000 followers within hours, alongside multiple parody “branch” handles.
India tightly regulates social media content, asking platforms to withhold accounts or remove “objectionable” content.
The party’s Instagram handle, still online in India, has nearly 20 million followers — more than double the BJP’s nine million followers on the same site, as well as the main opposition Congress Party’s 13 million followers.
“The more you try to suppress us, the stronger we will rise,” it posted on Friday.
Source: Insider Paper
