The X, formerly Twitter, account of the satirical political outfit Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has been withheld in India, days after the platform gained significant traction online and surpassed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Instagram followers.
Users attempting to access the account, @CJP_2029, are now shown a message stating that the profile has been restricted in India. The notice displayed on X, reads, “Account Withheld”, followed by the message, “@CJP_2029 has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”
The development comes at a time when the Cockroach Janata Party had rapidly emerged as one of the most talked-about satirical movements online, attracting widespread attention for its meme-driven political messaging.
The outfit’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, confirmed the restriction in a post, sharing a screenshot of the withheld notice. “As expected, Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India,” Dipke wrote.
According to X’s policy, content or accounts may be withheld in a specific country if the platform receives a “valid and properly scoped request from an authorised entity” or where content is found to violate local laws. “Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s),” X states in its explanation of country-specific restrictions.
The move is being viewed as a setback for the fledgling satirical platform, which had gained momentum over the past few days and built a substantial following across social media platforms. The Cockroach Janata Party currently has around 14.7 million followers on Instagram, overtaking the BJP’s 8.8 million followers on the platform. Earlier on Thursday, the outfit had mocked the BJP over the follower milestone in a social media post. “It just took us four days,” the caption read, adding a swipe at the ruling party with the remark: “World’s largest party they said.”
The Cockroach Janata Party was founded by Abhijeet Dipke in the aftermath of online backlash over remarks made by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, who had compared some unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a court hearing. The comments triggered widespread criticism online and eventually led to the creation of the satirical platform, which describes itself as the “Voice of the Lazy & Unemployed.”
The outfit humorously lists its eligibility criteria for membership as being “unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and ability to rant professionally.” Abhijeet Dipke, who describes himself as the CJP’s “founding president”, is a 30-year-old political communication strategist and previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on social media and election campaign operations.
Shortly after the X account was withheld, Abhijeet Dipke claimed that the platform’s Instagram account may also have come under threat. Sharing another screenshot online, he alleged that Instagram had sent an email asking whether he was facing trouble accessing the account, prompting fears of a possible hacking attempt. Dipke claimed efforts were being made to compromise the party’s Instagram page, though no official confirmation regarding any breach has been issued so far.
