Shashi Tharoor said he understands the youth’s frustrations and sees why they are resonating with CJP. He called withholding of its X account “deeply unwise”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has expressed intrigue for the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a satirical political party launched recently that has taken social media by storm and garnered millions of followers.

In a post on X, Tharoor said he understands the youth’s frustrations and sees why they are resonating with the CJP. He also called the withholding of the X account of the satirical outfit “deeply unwise”.

“I’m incredibly intrigued by the rise of #CockroachJantaParty, which has already reached more than 15 million followers on Instagram in just five days. I understand the frustrations of the youth and see why they are resonating with it. This is precisely why the account being withheld on X is disastrous and deeply unwise – there should be an outlet for the youth to express their feelings, and so, let CJP’s account function instead of shutting it down! Democracies need outlets for dissent, humour, satire and even frustration,” Tharoor wrote, while responding to another user who was commenting on a news article which had quoted the Thiruvananthapuram MP on the issue.

In an article published by the Indian Express, Shashi Tharoor said that the Cockroach Janata Party reveals that people were frustrated with the government. He also pointed out that it has shown the Opposition there is “an opportunity waiting to be seized”.

Reiterating the same point in his X post, Tharoor said that it was an opportunity “that the Opposition must seize.”

“I am uncertain about the future of this movement, but I hope the youngsters behind it find a way to bring this energy into mainstream politics or perhaps express it through their vote to be a voice of change and, in doing so, become impossible to ignore. This is an opportunity that the Opposition must seize,” he wrote.

The Cockroach Janata Party
The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by a 30-year-old political communication strategist, Abhijeet Dipke, after online backlash on Chief Justice Surya Kant’s remarks comparing some unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites”.

The satirical political outfit says the criteria for joining it include being “unemployed, lazy, chronically online, and able to rant professionally”.