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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

CJP attracts 1.5 cr; new politics shaping up

Mumbai: Not from kitchen sinks, toilets or gutters — these two-legged ‘roaches’ have swarmed Social Media in millions through memes, live-streams, rap anthems and viral posts… and the country has begun taking note. On May 16, an unemployed youth, Abhijeet Dipke from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar - currently job-hunting in Boston, USA, grabbed national attention after launching a digital platform called the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP), pitched as a democratic movement “of the youth, for the...

CJP attracts 1.5 cr; new politics shaping up

Mumbai: Not from kitchen sinks, toilets or gutters — these two-legged ‘roaches’ have swarmed Social Media in millions through memes, live-streams, rap anthems and viral posts… and the country has begun taking note. On May 16, an unemployed youth, Abhijeet Dipke from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar - currently job-hunting in Boston, USA, grabbed national attention after launching a digital platform called the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP), pitched as a democratic movement “of the youth, for the youth, by the youth” targeting disillusioned Gen-Z Indians. To Dipke’s own surprise, the announcement exploded online. Within days, CJP has amassed nearly 1.5-crore followers on Instagram, over 40-lakh across other platforms, more than three-lakh registered members, and counting - despite allegations of account suspensions and restrictions. Ironically, CJP’s online numbers are being compared with the social media reach of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Indian National Congress - overtaking both, leaving political circles both amused and unsettled. On Thursday, at least one major social media platform briefly suspended the party’s accounts, while CJP supporters alleged hacking attempts on others. Yet, within hours, the page resurfaced with a sarcastic: “You thought you could get rid of us? LOL! Cockroach is back!” After flexing its digital muscle, the fledgling week-old outfit unveiled a basic charter of demands-cum-mini manifesto, along with a tickly political slogan: “Abki Baar, Cockroach Sarkar,” and aimed to capture “400-plus seats” in the next Lok Sabha elections. The CJP’s first political salvo was directed at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET examination paper leak controversy. “Governments make mistakes, but students pay the price. What kind of system is this? Why has the Education Minister not been sacked? Where is the accountability?” Dipke thundered from Boston during an online media interaction. The CJP’s memes have become a star attraction. One depicts a swaggering political cockroach dressed in Gandhi topi, kurta, angavastram and chappals before Parliament House; another shows a suited-booted cockroach delivering a corporate speech; yet another portrays giant roaches marching amid restless crowds. In one provocative graphic, a cocky cockroach is seen gleefully chewing up a giant lotus and relishing it - a not-so-subtle political jab. Dipke has proclaimed himself as the “Cockroach” and ditto with his followers, transforming the usually reviled six-legged arthropod into an unlikely mascot of survival and resistance. His legion of fans gleefully remind how cockroaches, believed to have existed for over 300 million years, can survive pesticides, extreme conditions and even nuclear disasters, besides online attacks! “The biggest complaint among young people is that nobody listens to them, nobody talks to them, and nobody even acknowledges their existence. And now they are being compared to cockroaches and parasites. Naturally, the youth are angry with the system,” Dipke said. A media strategist who reportedly worked for a couple of years with the Aam Aadmi Party, Dipke says the CJP plans to crowdsource its political agenda by asking supporters what issues the movement should prioritise and how citizens can collectively push for systemic change. ‘Cockroaches’ want to swarm Parliament The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s anti-establishment rap anthem, pointed memes and online campaigns revolve around corruption, pollution, propaganda, unemployment and collapsing public systems that have left large sections of India’s youth disillusioned, angry and politically alienated. Its wishlist includes free world-class education, universal healthcare, clean rivers, safe drinking water, breathable air, and greater media accountability - promises that traditional political parties have made for decades, but which suddenly sound radical when articulated by self-styled “cockroaches” claiming to survive every form of rot and decay. Though many dismiss the CJP as a digital gimmick, some political observers believe this sudden rise of ‘cockroaches’ reflects growing public frustration not just with the ruling establishment, but also with the Opposition.

Choking Mumbai

For decades, Mumbai was perceived as a rare urban oasis, where the saline sweep of the Arabian Sea blunted the worst ravages of India's air pollution. That illusion has now been dispelled. A meticulous four-year study by Respirer Living Sciences (RLS), using data from its AtlasAQ platform, reveals the bleak truth that the city’s air is thick with pollutants all year round, with no ‘clean season’ left.


Mumbai’s annual average levels of PM10 (particulate matter ten microns or less in diameter) have consistently breached the national safety threshold of 60 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³). This is not merely a seasonal malaise tied to cooler winter months, as once assumed. Alarmingly, the city’s pollution levels persist even through the hot season, a time when improved atmospheric dispersion should offer natural reprieve.


Across the city - from Chakala in Andheri East to Deonar, Kurla, Vile Parle West and Mazgaon - pollution has become an unrelenting, ubiquitous presence.


The culprits are well known: traffic emissions from a burgeoning number of vehicles; unregulated dust from frenzied construction; industrial activity in and around the ports; and a conspicuous lack of dust control measures. Mumbai’s ceaseless growth now risks becoming a chronic liability.


Worryingly, the regulatory response remains sluggish. Mumbai’s urban planning continues to treat clean air as a peripheral concern, not a foundational necessity. Development plans rarely integrate environmental impact assessments in a meaningful way.


A sharper, citywide strategy is urgently needed. Dust suppression rules at construction sites must be enforced strictly, with financial penalties for violators and incentives for best practices. Traffic management systems should be overhauled to ease congestion and encourage the use of public transport. Expansion of clean, reliable mass transit network needs to be urgently prioritised. In addition, comprehensive real-time air monitoring at the ward level should be deployed, enabling authorities to respond to localised pollution spikes swiftly rather than relying on citywide averages that conceal dangerous hotspots.


Longer-term, clean air targets must be hardwired into the city’s master planning and transport policies. Green buffers along major traffic corridors, stricter emission norms for commercial vehicles and incentives for rooftop gardens and urban afforestation could all play a part. Industrial zones near port areas should be subjected to rigorous air quality compliance measures, not token self-certifications. Private developers and large infrastructure firms, often among the worst offenders, must be made stakeholders in the clean air mission through binding regulations.


Mumbai’s commercial dynamism - as a magnet for migrants, entrepreneurs and investors - depends not just on glittering skyscrapers but on something far more basic: the ability to breathe. Unless clean air becomes an unshakeable priority, the city risks suffocating its own future. For a metropolis that prides itself on its resilience against terror attacks, monsoon floods and economic shocks, the real test will be whether it can muster the will to fight an invisible, pervasive enemy slowly corroding the lives of its 20 million citizens.

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