Viral “Cockroach Janata Party” Sparks Debate Over Chief Justice’s Remarks
Barak Bani Digital Desk, May 21: A unique social media page called the “Cockroach Janata Party” has created a nationwide sensation after emerging in protest against a controversial remark allegedly made by Chief Justice Suryakant. Within just five days, the party’s Instagram account reportedly crossed more than 11 million followers, while its account on X reached nearly 126,000 followers. For comparison, the Bharatiya Janata Party currently has around 8.7 million Instagram followers, while the Congress party has approximately 13.2 million. Against that backdrop, this newly created page has managed to gain enormous popularity in a remarkably short period.
The Cockroach Janata Party was founded by a young man from Maharashtra named Abhijit Deepke. The slogan of this new party is: “Secular, Socialist, Democratic and Lazy.” Reports suggest that the party gained more than 4 million followers in a single day. Recently, Abhijit also unveiled the party’s logo and symbol.
The background of this development goes back to 15 May, when some media reports claimed that during the hearing of a case, Chief Justice Suryakant had compared a section of unemployed youth to cockroaches. However, the very next day, the Chief Justice issued a clarification stating that he had not made the remark about unemployed young people. He clarified that his comments were directed at individuals who entered the legal profession, media, and social media using fake degrees, describing them as parasites and cockroaches. Despite this clarification, the remark sparked strong reactions among young people on social media, which eventually inspired the idea behind the formation of the Cockroach Janata Party.
The party announced four special eligibility criteria for membership. First, a person must be unemployed; second, extremely lazy; third, addicted to staying online; and fourth, capable of professionally expressing personal frustration. In addition, the party released a manifesto containing five major promises.
According to the manifesto, if the Cockroach Janata Party comes to power, retired Chief Justices will no longer be allowed to enter the Rajya Sabha as a reward after retirement. If any valid vote is deleted, the Chief Election Commissioner would be arrested under the UAPA Act, arguing that depriving citizens of voting rights is no less serious than terrorism. The party also promised 50 percent reservation for women instead of 33 percent, without increasing the number of Members of Parliament. Similarly, 50 percent of cabinet positions would be reserved for women. It further proposed cancelling the licenses of all media organizations owned by Ambani and Adani in order to create space for genuinely independent journalism and investigating the bank accounts of certain allegedly biased news anchors. Additionally, if any MLA or MP changes political parties, they would be banned from contesting elections and prohibited from holding public office for the next 20 years.
The founder of the Cockroach Janata Party, Abhijit Deepke, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Relations at Boston University in the United States. He also worked as a volunteer in the social media team of the Aam Aadmi Party from 2020 to 2023. According to him, after seeing discussions around the Chief Justice’s remarks on X, he wanted to understand the views of young people. Encouraged by the positive response, especially from those under the age of 25, he decided to bring them together and establish the Cockroach Janata Party.
Barak Bani Dainik
