Long gone are the days when cadre building, convincing the people, groundwork was necessary for forging a united front. Social media has changed the dynamics. A simple idea can work wonders in the virtual world uniting people across the globe.
What started as a satirical campaign is now overtaking India’s most powerful political parties in online battles. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a meme-fuelled satirical political movement born out of outrage, irony, and online humour in response to the Chief Justice of India’s remarks on youth, has crossed 10 million followers in just five days, overtaking the BJP on the platform.
In a country where political dominance has been carefully cultivated over decades, the online party has managed to outpace the ruling party armed with nothing more than sarcasm, reels, and viral rage.
The account, operating under the handle @cockroachjantaparty, crossed the 10-million mark on Thursday. In contrast, the BJP’s official Instagram account @bjp4india currently has around 8.7 million followers, while the Congress’s account @incindia remains ahead with roughly 13.2 million followers. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), founded in 2012, has approximately 1.9 million followers.
Both politicians and vocal non-politician backers or sympathisers of the Cockroach Janta Party include prominent YouTubers and social media influencers like Dhruv Rathee, veteran activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. TMC leaders Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad have also expressed their willingness to join the Cockroach Janta Party.
Senior advocate and activist Prashant Bhushan called for the CJP to use its followers’ surge to raise the issue of the NEET paper leak.
“The Cockroach Janta Party has acquired 10.3M followers on Instagram in 4 days, more than the BJP. It has promise if steered wisely & imaginatively. It must, of course, raise NEET paper leak & seek accountability of Dharmendra Pradhan”, Bhushan posted on X.
He also asked the CJP to voice the need for the right to employment. “Time to demand a right to Employment law. All people between 21 and 60 must have the right to be employed at least the minimum wage, failing which they must receive unemployment allowance,” he added on Thursday.
There is a health warning here. Getting online followers is very different from getting people to join as members of a political party. Membership indicates on-ground presence.
The CJP’s campaign first surfaced online on May 16 as a satirical youth movement responding to the controversial remarks of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant regarding sections of Indian youth.
During a hearing on May 15, the CJI referred to a lawyer’s social media conduct, saying, “There are youngsters, like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists, and other activists, and they start attacking everyone.”
Rise of CJP
The scale of the CJP’s rise becomes more striking when compared with established political organisations like the BJP. Despite having only 56 posts so far, the CJP has managed to surpass the BJP’s Instagram following, even though the ruling party’s account has published more than 18,000 posts over the years.
This could be indicative of the youth appeal of the CJP. However, online following could come from anywhere in the world.
The CJP’s Instagram handle marked the milestone with a direct message to the political establishment, saying, “Don’t underestimate the power of youth”.
In another viral post after overtaking the BJP’s follower count, the account mocked the ruling party’s long-held image as a mass organisation, posting, “World’s largest party, they said”.
The BJP, founded in 1980, remains the world’s largest political party by primary membership, with more than 140 million members globally.
Yet online, the emergence of the Cockroach Janta Party has reflected how digital influence today can be built not through decades of cadre-building, but through meme culture, algorithm-driven virality, and a language of political satire that resonates with younger audiences.
The movement has also gained massive support beyond Instagram. On X, where the CJP took birth as an online backlash, the account crossed more than 180,000 followers by May 21. The BJP has 23 million followers of X, and the Congress has 11.5 million followers.
