Shashi Tharoor Condemns X Ban ‘Cockroach Janata Party’

Congress MP Shashi | Photo credit: PTI

A day after the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) account was seized in India in response to a legal complaint, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday (May 22, 2026) called the move “foolish” in a post on X.

Expressing concern over the blocked account, Mr Tharoor said: “A great asset of democracy is the outlet it provides for public sentiment, frustrations and grievances. It IS in the national interest to let them air on a satirical site.”

CJP’s X account was reportedly seized in India in response to a legal complaint on Wednesday (May 20, 2026). The account gained more than two million followers after creating a frenzy on social media for its satirical content.

Acknowledging the user’s views, Mr Tharoor’s post on X wrote: “Many users have dismissed this as a Pakistan-made conspiracy, but that’s too simplistic: there are also counter-claims from Abhijeet Deepka that 94% of his followers are based in India. Whatever the truth is (and maybe Instagram should set the record straight), I think suppressing it is foolish in a democracy.

Significantly, satirical digital outfit CJP, founded by Boston University student Abhijeet Dipke, has amassed a staggering 19 million followers on Instagram within a week of its inception. On Thursday (May 21, 2026), Mr Dipke’s parents told a local news channel in Maharashtra that they had lost sleep after learning about his movements. “We don’t want our son to enter politics,” they added.

I welcome the reflection on my post and the interview on #CockroachJantaParty phenomenon. Many users dismissed it as a conspiracy made in Pakistan, but that’s too simplistic: there are also counter-claims @abhijeet_dipke that 94% of his followers are based in India.…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 22, 2026

Further, Mr. Tharoor also wrote: “Whatever the motivations of the founders, it cannot be denied that they tapped into an important strain of national feeling among our youth. As guardians of our democracy, the government and the opposition must sit down, listen and address the underlying discontent. To ignore it, to deny it and worst of all to suppress it would be disastrous.”

Drawing a parallel with a pressure cooker, he wrote: “Such movements act as valves on a pressure cooker and release steam. If the valves were closed, the pressure cooker would explode. I prefer satire to chaos, anarchy or revolution. I also feel it is our job to identify and deliver solutions to Young India’s problems. Let’s lift the ban!”.

Meanwhile, Mr Tharoor’s post in X extending support to CJP has arrived for the second time in a row in the last 24 hours. On Thursday evening, Mr Tharoor shared that he was “intrigued” by the rise of the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’, which has already reached more than 15 million followers on Instagram.

He called for the ban to be overturned, writing: “I understand the frustration of the youth and understand why they resonate with it. This is exactly why the suspension of the X account is disastrous and deeply unwise – the youth should be able to express their feelings, so keep the CJP account running instead of shutting it down! Democracies need an outlet for dissent, frustration and humor.”

Published – 22 May 2026 14:27 IST