Abhijit Dipke was in no mood to back down on Tuesday. Standing before protesters at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for the fourth consecutive day, the founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) fired back at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who had called the outfit the "B team of terrorists."

"The Education Minister is calling the youth of the country terrorists. Sir, we are not terrorists. We do not need patriotism certificates from people like you," Dipke told the crowd gathered at the protest site.

He followed that up with a sharp post on X, writing that Pradhan's hands "are stained with the blood of more than 17 students" — a reference to student deaths linked to competitive exam stress and coaching institute conditions, a charge the minister's office has not directly addressed.

Pradhan, for his part, showed no signs of softening his position. In an interview with NDTV on Tuesday, the minister said those "rejected by democracy have come back in disguise" and are now targeting the system. "They raise slogans for those who want to divide the country. Their identity has been established," he said. Pradhan also warned that coaching centres and what he called "education mafias" are under watch. "We will bring them to their knees; we cannot secure the future of the country's children," he added.

The war of words marks a sharp escalation in what has become one of the more unusual political standoffs in recent memory — a movement built around a judicial insult, now squaring off against a senior cabinet minister.

CJP came into existence following a remark by Chief Justice Suryakant during a May 15 court hearing, in which he referred to unemployed youth who become RTI activists or media workers as "cockroaches who attack the system." The comment lit a fuse. The very next day, Dipke — a 30-year-old digital media strategist from Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra, currently pursuing a Master's in Public Relations at Boston University — launched the Cockroach Janata Party from the United States and set up its social media accounts.

What followed was a rapid and unexpected surge. By June 10, CJP's Instagram account had amassed 2.27 crore followers — more than BJP's 94 lakh and Congress's 1.37 crore, though the figure has since dipped by roughly two lakh. On X, the party has 2.79 lakh followers. On May 22, Dipke launched an online petition demanding Pradhan's resignation, which reportedly drew support from over eight lakh people.

The movement has now spread to eight cities over 15 days, with protests running in parallel across locations. Dipke, who studied journalism in Pune before moving abroad and was previously associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, has emerged as the face of what his supporters describe as a youth-driven pushback against institutional apathy toward unemployment and student welfare.

Whether CJP's social media muscle translates into sustained street pressure remains to be seen. But Tuesday's exchange showed both sides digging in — Dipke framing it as a generational fight for dignity, Pradhan framing it as a threat to national unity. The protests at Jantar Mantar are expected to continue.

The Cockroach Janata Party has placed posters of students who died by suicide following the NEET paper leak, demanding ₹1 crore compensation for each family.

Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke arrived at the Jantar Mantar protest site in Delhi on Saturday, with organizers displaying posters of NEET aspirants who have died by suicide following the examination paper leak controversy.

Delhi Police has granted permission for the protest, which has drawn a significant turnout according to early visuals from the site. The demonstration comes amid growing outrage over student suicides linked to the NEET paper leak, with 13 such deaths reported across the country in the past 38 days.

Dipke's Letter to PM Modi

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Dipke demanded ₹1 crore compensation for the families of each student who died by suicide. He also called for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

"The atmosphere in the country is affecting the lives and mental health of youth," Dipke wrote in the letter, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Despite re-exams being held, student suicides have not stopped, and the government should focus on the real problem, he said. Dipke warned that if no action is taken, frustration among students and parents may increase further.

The Five Key Demands

The CJP has outlined five key demands in its protest:

1. Immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

2. ₹1 crore compensation for families of students who died by suicide

3. Comprehensive investigation into the NEET paper leak

4. Systemic reforms in the examination process

5. Mental health support for students preparing for competitive exams

Background: The Birth of CJP

The Cockroach Janta Party was launched after a controversial remark by Justice Suryakant during a court hearing on May 15, when he reportedly compared some unemployed youths to "cockroaches" who challenge the system through media, social media or RTI activism.

A day later, US-based Abhijeet Dipke launched the CJP and created social media accounts for the movement. The 30-year-old is a digital media strategist from Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra, who studied journalism in Pune and is currently pursuing a master's degree in public relations at Boston University.

On May 22, the group started an online petition seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, which it claimed received support from more than 800,000 people.

Social Media Surge

The party's social media presence grew rapidly. By June 10, its Instagram account had reportedly crossed 22.7 million followers, though the number has since fallen by around 200,000. Even after the decline, CJP's follower count remains higher than that of both the BJP and the Congress on Instagram. The group also has around 279,000 followers on X.

Appeal to Political Leaders

Dipke appealed to political leaders concerned about students' future to come forward in support. "Whatever political leaders are concerned about the future of students and believe that paper leaks are damaging the country's education system, they should come forward in support of students," he said.

He confirmed that he has not had any conversation with Rahul Gandhi regarding the issue. Dipke also criticized the political class, saying leaders have money to win over MLAs and MPs but not to help students' families.

"The education system is gradually turning into a business, and public representatives are more interested in running private institutions rather than strengthening government schools," he said.

The Toll on Students

The protest comes amid a heartbreaking toll. In the past 38 days, 13 students related to the NEET exam have died by suicide across the country. In Indore, a female student preparing for NEET fell from the third floor late Thursday night and died on Friday morning. A video of the student's fall has also surfaced.

Previous Protests

The CJP has previously held demonstrations at Jantar Mantar on June 6. The party has also organized protests in Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Nagpur so far.

Saturday's protest at Jantar Mantar has seen a better turnout than the previous demonstration, according to reports from the site. Supporters were seen waving the Indian flag and party flags during the protest, carrying CJP posters and placards demanding justice for students.

Abhijeet Dipke regained control of the Cockroach Janata Party account and shared follower-location data, questioning Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s recent social media remarks.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), on Sunday said he had regained access to the party’s Instagram account and posted follower-location data to rebut comments by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju about social media followings. The development comes amid a wider online tussle that included claims of the party website being taken offline.

Account recovered, post shared
According to the video clip shared on Instagram late Sunday morning, Dipke announced, “We are back, you forgot what we can do to survive,” alongside an image of a cockroach. The post marked the return of the CJP account after what Dipke and his supporters described as an earlier hacking or suspension.

Dipke also posted the follower breakdown on X (formerly Twitter), showing that more than 94% of the account’s followers are located in India. He used the data to question Rijiju’s remark labelling some Indian youth as “Pakistani” in the context of activists or accounts allegedly seeking followers from abroad.

Rijiju’s earlier post
Last week, Rijiju wrote on X that “I feel sorry for those who look for their followers on social media from Pakistan and the George Soros gang. India has enough energetic youth who can become genuine followers. There is no need to seek help from anti-India groups.” The Union minister did not name the CJP directly in that post.

In response, Dipke’s public sharing of follower-location data appeared aimed at undermining the minister’s implication that his audience was foreign-backed. Initial reports indicate the CJP Instagram page continued to gain followers even while it was reportedly inaccessible; Dipke’s team said follower numbers had risen to 2.27 crore by Sunday afternoon.

Website down, petition claims
Separately, Dipke posted on X on Saturday afternoon that the party’s website had been taken down. “The government has shut down our website. 10 lakh people had registered on it. 6 lakh people had signed the petition demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan,” his post said at 1:14 PM. Attempts to open the site returned a “This site can’t be reached” error message.

There was no immediate confirmation from government sources about the website outage or any directive to block the site. Officials familiar with such takedown processes said servers can go offline for several reasons, from technical failures to legal notices, and that a formal order would typically be logged and served. No such order was publicly available at the time of filing.

Background on Dipke and CJP
Abhijeet Dipke, 30, from Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad) in Maharashtra, is a digital media strategist and the face of the satirical Cockroach Janata Party. Reports show he studied journalism in Pune and later worked as a social media strategist for the Aam Aadmi Party between 2020 and 2022. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Relations at Boston University in the United States.

Dipke has used his social platforms to target central government policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues ranging from farm protests to inflation. His online campaigns, often meme-driven, drew attention during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, according to campaign records and archived materials.

On-the-ground reactions
On Sunday in Mumbai and Delhi, social-media managers and digital campaigners told local reporters that follower-location data can be misleading — driven by VPN use, bot accounts, or platform analytics quirks. “Publicly sharing a geographic percentage is indicative but not definitive,” one independent analyst said on condition of anonymity.

Supporters of CJP hailed the Instagram recovery on X, posting screenshots of the restored profile and celebrating the 2.27 crore follower figure. Critics, meanwhile, questioned the accuracy of follower-origin claims and urged platforms to publish transparent audit trails for account suspensions and recoveries.

What happens next
Dipke said he would continue to press the government on issues he has raised and planned to seek clarity from platform administrators about the earlier account disruption. Officials at Instagram (Meta) did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the account’s outage or restoration.

Meanwhile, the exchange has renewed calls for clearer public procedures on social-media takedowns and for political actors to avoid conflating large follower counts with foreign influence without corroborating evidence. Local digital rights groups said they would monitor the CJP website’s status and any formal government action.

Satire platform Cockroach Janata Party alleges targeted crackdown as digital handles face disruptions amid massive growth

In a swift escalation of a bizarre digital standoff, the official website of the newly formed 'Cockroach Janata Party' (CJP) went completely down on Saturday morning. The platform, which originated as a satirical response to a senior judicial remark, became inaccessible around 9:00 AM, displaying a standard “site can’t be reached” error message.

The digital blackout follows closely on the heels of a massive online campaign launched by the group demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the recent NEET exam paper leak controversy.

Digital platforms go dark

CJP founder Abhijit Dipke took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the development, directly accusing the central establishment of heavy-handedness. Dipke revealed that the platform had amassed significant traction before going offline, claiming that nearly 10 lakh users had registered as members on the site.

"Over 6 lakh people had already signed our online petition demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan," Dipke stated in an online broadcast. "Why is the government so incredibly scared of cockroaches? They can take down our web servers, but cockroaches never die."

The website outage was not the only disruption reported by the group. Earlier in the day, at around 8:25 AM, the party handles claimed their official Instagram account had been compromised and rendered inaccessible to administrators, though the public profile page remained visibly online.

Exponential social media surge

Despite the technical roadblocks, the group's digital footprint has exploded over the last 48 hours. By Saturday afternoon, the Cockroach Janata Party's Instagram following skyrocketed to over 2.2 crore users. Simultaneously, their primary communication channel on X crossed the 200,000-follower milestone.

The sudden surge in popularity has altered the ground reality for Dipke's family, residing in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Speaking to a regional Marathi news channel, Dipke’s parents expressed profound anxiety regarding their son's sudden political visibility and the looming threat of legal action.

"It is completely natural for us to feel terrified looking at the current atmosphere in the country," his father, Bhagwan Dipke, told reporters, adding that the family has spent sleepless nights worrying about potential arrest warrants. His mother, Anita, noted that they only learned of the digital movement through neighbors and preferred that their son focus on his professional career.

Allegations of foreign footprints

As the digital movement gained momentum, critics alleged that the massive follower base was artificial, claiming that only 9 percent of the interaction originated from within India, with the bulk coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Western nations.

The CJP leadership vehemently rejected these claims on Friday night, releasing internal analytics screenshots indicating that 96 percent of their actual target audience is base-located right inside India. The group has also had to navigate the permanent suspension of its original X account earlier this week, forcing them to operate under a backup page titled "Cockroach Is Back."

Roots in judicial commentary

The unusual political front traces its origin back to mid-May. During a courtroom hearing, remarks were reportedly passed comparing hyper-active, unemployed youth on social media to "cockroaches" who constantly critique state institutions.

While the judiciary later clarified that the statement was contextually misrepresented, Dipke capitalised on the phrase the very next day, launching the Cockroach Janata Party as a formal digital initiative representing the "lazy, unemployed, and chronically online" demographic.

Former AAP strategist at helm

The standard of execution behind the viral campaign stems from professional experience. Dipke, 30, is a seasoned digital media strategist who previously managed viral meme-based campaign content for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) between 2020 and 2022, notably during the Delhi Assembly elections.

Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Relations at Boston University in the United States, Dipke has been running the digital operation from abroad. Meanwhile, the domestic popularity of the name has triggered a corporate rush on the ground, with three separate commercial trademark applications already filed with the Trademark Registry portal to secure rights over the "Cockroach Janata Party" brand name for political and social services. Legal representatives for the group state they are exploring alternative web hosting options to restore the main campaign portal by Sunday evening.