Cockroach Janta Party’s X account has been withheld in India days after the satirical political campaign emerged online in response to remarks made by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant about sections of Indian youth.
The account, operating under the username CJP_2029, is now displaying an “Account Withheld” notice on X, stating: “@CJP_2029 has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”
The development was confirmed by the campaign’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old political communication strategist, who shared a screenshot of the pop-up message on social media.
“As expected, Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India,” Dipke wrote in the caption accompanying the screenshot.
According to X, accounts may be withheld when the platform receives a “valid and properly scoped request from an authorised entity”.
“Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s),” the platform said.
Soon after, came up another handle - 'Cockroach is Back'.
“I have now started a new account named 'Cockroach Is Back' on X,” Dipke added. He said the team would pursue the matter legally.
At 3.40 pm, a little over an hour after it started, the 'Cockroach Is Back' X handle had 16,800 followers.
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) first surfaced online on 16 May as a satirical digital movement after remarks made by the CJI during a hearing on 15 May triggered outrage across social media platforms.
Referring to a lawyer’s conduct on social media, Justice Surya Kant had said: “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.”
The comments drew criticism online and led to the creation of the CJP campaign, headed by Dipke, which positioned itself as a protest movement against unemployment, institutional disconnect and perceived attacks on younger voices.
Justice Surya Kant later issued a clarification on 16 May, saying he had been “misquoted by a section of the media”.
Dipke studied journalism in Pune for his undergraduate degree before moving to the United States for higher education. He later completed a master’s degree in Public Relations at Boston University.
Between 2020 and 2022, he volunteered with the Aam Aadmi Party’s social media team.
Although the CJP initially appeared to many users as another short-lived meme page, the campaign rapidly evolved into a wider digital movement centred on frustrations over unemployment, exam paper leaks, political accountability and concerns among younger users about growing disconnect between institutions and Gen Z.
The campaign’s social media traction surged in recent days. Its Instagram account, operating under the handle @cockroachjantaparty, crossed the 10-million follower mark on 21 May.
In comparison, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s official Instagram account has around 8.7 million followers, while the Congress account has approximately 13.2 million followers. The Aam Aadmi Party, founded in 2012, has roughly 1.9 million followers.
Three trademark bids for 'Cockroach Janta Party' name
Three separate trademark applications have been filed seeking rights over the name Cockroach Janata Party, official records showed.
The filings, by lesser-known individuals, come amid growing attention around a satirical political outfit Cockroach Janata Party, that had attracted million of views and followers within days of launch for its online commentary and digital presence.
While the X account of the outfit was withheld in India, the applications filed with the Trade Marks Registry portal seek trademark registration under the category for providing political and social services.
Separate applications have been filed by individuals Azim Adambhai Jam and Akhand Swaroop -- about whom not much is known -- and by a proprietorship COCKROACH JANTA PARTY.
According to the Trade Marks Registry portal, the status of two applications are showing 'Formalities Check Pass', which means applications have successfully cleared the initial technical scrutiny by the trademark office.
The third application status is 'Sent to Vienna Codification" means it has been send for classification under the Vienna Classification system. This usually happens when the trademark contains a logo/ symbol/image/shape/design or graphical element.
This application was filled for 'Cockroach Janta Party (Label Mark)', which means the applicant has applied to register not just the words "Cockroach Janta Party", but the complete visual/logo version of the mark.
The other two have been filed for 'Cockroach Janta Party'.
'Cockroach Janta Party' is usually a word mark application, while the 'Cockroach Janta Party (Label Mark)' is a logo/design-based trademark application. While the first application was filed on May 19, the other two were filed on Thursday.
In India, the process of registering a trademark starts when an application is filed with the trademark office. First, the application is checked for proper format and then examined on its merits. This means the examiner reviews whether the mark is clear, distinctive, and not too similar to existing marks.
If the examiner finds any issues, the applicant is invited to explain or fix them and once these concerns are resolved, the trademark is accepted and published in the official Trade Marks Journal, which is like a public notice.
Under the Indian trademark law, a registered trademark is granted protection for 10 years from the date of filing of the application. After that, it can be renewed for additional periods of 10 years each by paying the prescribed renewal fee.
Commenting on the application, Nilanshu Shekhar, founding partner at law firm KAnalysis, said filing a trademark application is often misinterpreted as a lot of people assume that the moment you file the name belongs to you.
"That is not how it works in India. An application is only the first step. It is basically a request to the Trademark Office saying that I would like rights over this name. The office then has to examine the request, publish it so the public can see it, and give other people a chance to object. Only after all of that, and only if no serious objections come up, does a name actually get registered," he said.
That whole journey usually takes somewhere between one and two years, and plenty of applications never reach the end, he said, adding that each application also openly says the name is only "proposed to be used", which means even the applicants acknowledge they have not really used it yet.
"That is a real weak spot, because Indian law cares a great deal about who genuinely used a name first and who the public already connects it with. Being quick to file does not beat that, and claiming a name you have no link to, across businesses you are not in, looks less like building a brand and more like planting a flag on it just in case it becomes valuable," Shekhar said.
Ravi Bhardwaj, Advocate, said filing an application first does not mean winning it first.
Soon after the X account of Cockroach Janata Party was withheld in India, another handle came -- 'Cockroach is Back' with the tagline 'Cockroaches Don't Die'.
"This (action) was expected since there were attempts to hack the account yesterday. But this is a self-goal by the government," founder Abhijeet Dipke told PTI.
The Cockroach Janata Party account, which came into being a day after Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant used the words "parasites" and "cockroaches" while pulling up a lawyer for his plea seeking a senior designation. The remarks made on May 15 quickly went viral, attracting support from politicians, activists, artists and a large number of young and not-so-young social media users.
The CJI later clarified that he was misquoted and his remarks were directed specifically at individuals entering the legal profession through "fake and bogus degrees".
Though the X account is inaccessible in India, it can be accessed through VPN.
The platform's Instagram page remains active with around over 15.6 million followers -- and counting -- by Thursday evening. A post from the X account 'Cockroach is Back' on Thursday drew comparisons with the official Bharatiya Janata Party account, which has approximately 8.8 million followers on the Meta-owned platform.
