India’s “Cockroach” Parody Party Says Website Blocked Days After Launch
India’s viral “cockroach” political parody party says its website has been blocked. The block happened just days after it launched. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has gained more than 20 million online followers. The group was set up as a joke after India’s chief justice reportedly compared unemployed young people to cockroaches. He later clarified he was referring to people with “fake and bogus degrees”, not India’s youth more broadly.
Cockroaches Never Die
The CJP’s website can no longer be accessed in India. It also appears to be down elsewhere. Founder Abhijeet Dipke said officials had “taken down our iconic website” and asked why they were “so scared of cockroaches”. He wrote on X that the group was already working on a new “home”. He added: “Cockroaches never die.”
The group’s official X page is also inaccessible in India. It has more than 200,000 followers. Those trying to open it see a message that it has been withheld “in response to a legal demand”. Dipke has also claimed that both his personal Instagram and the group’s have been hacked.The CJP satirises the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, which has been in power since 2014.
