{"id":127082,"date":"2026-06-05T21:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=127082"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:49:15","slug":"indias-cockroach-party-chief-flies-to-new-delhi-for-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127082\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s &#8216;Cockroach Party&#8217; chief flies to New Delhi for protest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- The founder of India\u2019s satirical online \u201cCockroach People\u2019s Party\u201d said he was flying back to New Delhi on Friday, to take the viral social media campaign to the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abhijeet Dipke, the 30-year-old Boston University graduate behind the online movement, said he was flying back from the United States to seek police permission for a peaceful protest on Saturday against the education minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The parody \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2002051\">Cockroach Janta Party<\/a>\u201d (CJP) \u2014 echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) \u2014 has won millions of online followers on social media since its launch last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CJP was set up after India\u2019s Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly called young people who criticised the government \u201ccockroaches\u201d and \u201cparasites\u201d during a hearing. Kant later said his comments were taken out of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dipke, a political communications strategist who formerly worked with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2002121\">created<\/a>&nbsp;the fictional party online on May 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its popularity has soared, using the slogan \u201ca political front for the youth, by the youth, for the youth\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2005402\/indias-cockroach-party-chief-flies-to-new-delhi-for-protest#overwhelming-response\"><\/a>\u2018Overwhelming response\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dipke has called for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has faced criticism over alleged irregularities in several key examinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn my way to India \u2026 Leaving my fate in the hands of the Constitution,\u201d Dipke wrote in a post on X on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sonam Wangchuk, 59, a prominent activist from occupied Ladakh, who spent six months in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1982035\">detention<\/a>&nbsp;after being arrested in September following deadly protests demanding autonomy for the Himalayan territory, has said he will join the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India tightly regulates social media content, and some of the CJP\u2019s social media handles have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2003023\">blocked<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But its Instagram handle, still online in India, has more than 22 million followers \u2014 more than double the BJP\u2019s 9m followers on the same site, as well as the main opposition Congress Party\u2019s 13m followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dipke earlier called on followers not to gather at the airport upon his arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe overwhelming response from those who want the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan to our call to join us at Delhi Airport was beyond our imagination,\u201d he said, in a video message on X, posted on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not feasible for so many people to assemble at the airport as it would cause inconvenience to the public and the security forces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he would go immediately to the police \u201cto seek permission directly for our peaceful protest\u201d on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are law abiding citizens and have to act responsibly,\u201d he added. \u201cSo, please, be mindful that nobody should create any kind of disturbance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- The founder of India\u2019s satirical online \u201cCockroach People\u2019s Party\u201d said he was flying back to New Delhi on Friday, to take the viral social media campaign to the streets. Abhijeet Dipke, the 30-year-old Boston University graduate behind the online movement, said he was flying back from the United States to seek police [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>India&#039;s &#039;Cockroach Party&#039; chief flies to New Delhi for protest - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127082\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India&#039;s &#039;Cockroach Party&#039; chief flies to New Delhi for protest - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- The founder of India\u2019s satirical online \u201cCockroach People\u2019s Party\u201d said he was flying back to New Delhi on Friday, to take the viral social media campaign to the streets. 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