Cockroach Janta Party Website Taken Down, Founder Alleges Centre Action
NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online satirical movement, faced another setback on Saturday as founder Abhijeet Dipke claimed that the outfit's official website had been taken down by the Centre. This development came days after its main X handle was withheld in India following a legal demand.
However, as of the filing of this report, there had been no official statement from the Centre. A counter-narrative was trending on social media, suggesting that Dipke might be playing the 'victim card' by taking down his own website. Dipke did not respond to messages or direct messages seeking clarification.
Dipke alleged that the website was pulled down after the movement rapidly gained traction among young users online, particularly amid a petition drive over the NEET-UG paper leak. 'The govt has taken down our iconic website,' he wrote, adding that '10 lakh cockroaches' had registered and '6 lakh cockroaches' had signed a petition seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. In a subsequent post, Dipke sharpened his attack on the Centre, asking, 'Why is the govt so scared of cockroaches?' He further claimed that the episode was exposing India's youth to what he described as 'dictatorial behaviour'.
In another X post, he said the party's Instagram page, his personal Instagram account, and a backup X handle had also been affected. 'You can hack and withhold the accounts but you cannot hack this movement,' Dipke wrote, insisting that the campaign would continue online.
According to sources, the original CJP handle on X was withheld in India after the Ministry of Electronics and IT acted under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, based on Intelligence Bureau inputs citing sovereignty and national security concerns. Neither X nor the ministries of home affairs and information technology made any official confirmation.
X's own policy states that an 'account withheld' notice reflects action taken in response to a valid legal demand or local law. The party soon launched a new handle, 'Cockroach is Back', after the restriction was imposed.
The viral, meme-driven movement emerged after controversy over remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, which triggered online outrage before he clarified that his comments were aimed at people using 'fake and bogus degrees', not unemployed youth. On Saturday, BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar alleged that the CJP trend was part of a cross-border 'influence operation', a charge that Dipke denies.
