Cockroach Janta Party beats BJP on Instagram: 'Abki baar 10 lakh paar,' internet jokes

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a viral political satire movement launched a few days ago, has crossed 9 million followers on Instagram. This is more followers than most major political parties in India, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power at the center since 2014.

Official Instagram page of BJP @bjp4india has around 8.7 million followers, while the Congress party clique @incindia has roughly 13.2 million followers as of May 21. Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal Aam Aadmi Party deal with @aamaadmiparty has around 1.9 million followers.

Read also | Cockroach Janta Party is now beyond a joke, says founder Abhijeet Dipke

Janata Party’s cockroach @cockroachjantaparty On May 20, she crossed 9 million followers on Instagram

The satirical political movement began on May 16 as a viral response by youths to controversial remarks allegedly made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a court hearing.. His biography describes the campaign as a “Political Front of the Youth, by the Youth, for the Youth”.

The Instagram handle opened on May 17, a day after the campaign launched on X.

The account initially surpassed 3 million followers on Instgram within 78 hours and has since climbed to over 9 million on May 20. CJP’s handle has 54 posts while BJP has shared over 18,000 posts on its Instagram handle so far.

The satirical platform focuses on channeling youth frustration, demanding political accountability and addressing issues such as unemployment and paper leakage. This massive growth in about four days makes it perhaps the fastest growing internet phenomenon in Indian political discourse in recent times.

The account initially surpassed 3 million followers on Instgram within 78 hours and has since climbed to over 9 million on May 20.

“Don’t underestimate the power of youth,” the party’s social media said as it shared its Instagram act of going beyond the BJP, at least among Instagram followers.

“They said the world’s greatest party,” it read.

The party has also grown elsewhere on social media. On X, where it actually started as a joke, the unofficial party has 165,500 followers as of May 21.

With over 140 million (14 million) members worldwide, the BJP is the largest political party in the world by primary membership. Founded in 1980, it is the dominant political party in India and currently leads the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition government on Wednesday for its third term with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm.

“10 million paar this time”

The internet reacted with funny and serious comments about CJP outdoing BJP on Instagram. One user shared the Urdu couplet ‘dekh raftar-e-inqalab ‘firaq,’ kitna ahista aur kitni tez.’ These lines by Firaq Gorakhpuri basically point to real change, loosely translated as “on the outside it may creep for long stretches, but when the conditions are ripe it can grow rapidly.”

Read also | Who is Abhijeet Dipke? The brain behind the viral ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ campaign

The user said, “The picture still left friends,” which means the best is yet to come. “This time 10 million pairs” reminiscent of BJP’s 2024 election slogan, “This time 400 (places) pairs.”

Some respondents questioned whether this Instagram following would mean anything in terms of voting. “Bro is trying to win an election on insta,” the user said. To which the khayalipulao clique replied ‘wait and watch’.

Akhilesh Yadav provides support

The cockroach Janata Party has already become a big thing on the internet, with politicians like Akhilesh Yadav and Mahua Moitra supporting it on social media.

Read also | Cockroach Janta Party Takes Over the Internet: ‘Movement of the Year’

Cockroach Janta Party, a work of satire, was created by Abhijeet Dipke who calls himself the “Founding President” of “Cockroach Janta Party”. Dipke is a 30-year-old Indian from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, who has just completed his Masters in Public Relations from Boston University in the US. Dipke, 30, previously worked with AAP as a volunteer in the party’s social media team before moving to the US to study.

How did Cockroach Janta Party start?

Dipke shared the invitation on May 16 after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant sparked controversy over his “cockroach” remark. In the post, Dipke said that he is launching a new platform for all “cockroaches”.

“Click the link below to join. Eligibility criteria: unemployed, lazy, chronically online, able to chat professionally,” the post read.

Don’t underestimate the power of youth.

Even after Justice Kant later clarified that his oral remarks were aimed at people who use fake degrees to enter professions like law and the media — and not against unemployed youth — Dipk’s satirical post has already gone viral.

What started as an internet joke has since evolved into a va a full-fledged satirical online movement. The party has already crossed 1.6 Lakh registrations on the website.

In recent interview for LiveMintDipke said he might return to India and take this step forward depending on the feedback and suggestions he gets from those who signed up.

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