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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.

Mahayuti marks it with sweeping civic reforms

Mumbai: Marking a decisive shift from historical administrative opaqueness to a new era of civic accountability, the ruling Mahayuti alliance completed its first hundred days in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) by showcasing a comprehensive report card of twenty-three major policy decisions.


Addressing a crowded press conference at the iconic civic headquarters on Thursday, Andheri (West) MLA and Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam boldly declared the end of the “systematised cartelisation” that had allegedly plagued the civic standing committee for decades.


Flanked by Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde, Leader of the House Prabhakar Shinde, and Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi, Satam outlined a governance model now strictly rooted in public welfare rather than contractor appeasement. He emphasized that the era of political “understandings” and backroom deals has been entirely abolished.


Satam revealed that over the past three months, the civic administration successfully scrapped tenders worth a staggering Rs 1,100 crore following vigilant objections raised by BJP councillors regarding heavily inflated costs.


In a bid to institutionalize this transparency, the BMC has now made it mandatory to procure all municipal school stationery items and hospital medical equipment exclusively through the central government’s e-marketplace (GeM) portal.


Furthermore, the alliance demonstrated significant fiscal discipline by revising the long-pending Gargai Pinjal dam project, a crucial water supply initiative stalled since 2015, effectively saving the civic exchequer Rs 270 crore while accelerating its implementation to secure Mumbai’s future water needs, Satam said.


Taking aim at the city’s infamous monsoon woes, the civic body has partnered with experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to prepare a comprehensive blueprint aimed at preventing chronic waterlogging. Simultaneously, the city’s surface.

Infrastructure is undergoing a massive overhaul, with work on 1,900 kilometres of roads already completed and an ambitious target set to concretize ninety-three percent of Mumbai’s entire road network by 2027.


To address acute space constraints and the hazards of construction waste, the administration has introduced a stringent debris removal policy and floated an innovative proposal to construct underground parking facilities beneath municipal playgrounds.


In a landmark public health initiative, the BMC will now provide free Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to girls below fourteen years of age to actively combat cervical cancer.


On the educational front, municipal schools are being modernized with dedicated budget allocations for establishing cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and robotics laboratories.


Civic accountability has been further enforced through the shocking exposure of a massive racket involving 87,000 fake birth and death certificates, leading to a severe administrative crackdown.

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