How does one define Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)? Is it a campaign, a platform for the youth, a political movement, or can we say it’s a political party in the making?

I think the CJP is the voice of millions of youth of India who have been ignored by the political ecosystem for decades now. The main reason why CJP came into existence is because nobody from the existing political ecosystem was able to even try and understand the needs, aspirations, and hopes of this young population. That is why we have received such a huge response within such a short span of time.

Our readers and audience would be curious to know who Abhijeet Dipke is. Could you tell us a bit about your background—your family background, educational background, where you come from, and what took you to Boston?

I grew up in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra, in a Dalit family. If you had asked me in my childhood whether I ever thought I would be in Boston, the answer would have been no—no way—because none of my relatives back then were in a position where we could aspire or dream big. The highest aspiration I had as a child was to do engineering, or maybe a BSc, and get a decent job in some company. That was the highest benchmark of our aspirations back then.

After my schooling in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, I moved to Pune, where I did my mass communication. Going to Pune somehow expanded my horizon and brought me into contact with people who had bigger dreams. That made me believe, if my friends can have bigger dreams, so can I. That gave me some confidence. I was very politically aware even back then because I used to follow political news a lot, and that is when I came across Aam Aadmi Party. They were doing pretty well in education and healthcare. So after my undergraduation, I thought maybe if I got an opportunity to work with them, I could do something in politics. That is how I ended up working with the Aam Aadmi Party from 2020 to 2023.

After working there for a couple of years, I felt that I needed to dream even bigger. Coming from a small town like Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, going to Pune itself was a big deal—and then going to Delhi was an even bigger deal. I wouldn’t have imagined ever being able to go out of Maharashtra. In Delhi, I worked with Aam Aadmi Party and came across many people who had studied abroad. Many of my friends were applying for master’s programmes abroad, and that is when I thought maybe I could too. If we were doing the same kind of work, maybe I had the same potential. That is when I decided I needed to take another step in my life and find better opportunities. That is why I moved to Boston. I got into Boston University in 2024 and just recently completed my graduation in public relations.

So is politics pulling you back to India? Are you a political creature at heart? And did you have any inkling, even a few months ago, that you would be leading a campaign of this nature?

Not at all. In fact, I was applying for jobs a couple of weeks ago, and that was what I was looking forward to — securing a job, settling down here, earning some good money so I could provide for my family, since my dad has also retired. That was pretty much my life: applying for jobs throughout the day, going to the gym in the evening, and then relaxing by playing PlayStation because the job search was really taking a toll on my mental health. It’s a very difficult situation given what is happening in the US right now regarding the H-1B visa and everything.

But then this whole thing blew out of proportion, and I had no idea it would. I was just doing a banter—it was just supposed to be a joke—but somehow people really rallied behind it. Today, we have more than 2 crore followers on Instagram, and more than 11 lakh people registered as official members. After all this happened, I have been getting job offers, and people are asking me to stay in the US—why risk yourself when you can have a comfortable life here? But I have to tell them: I cannot abandon this movement. I need to go back to India.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke takes part in a protest over alleged irregularities in the country’s major examinations, in New Delhi on June 6, 2026. Hundreds of young students gathered in New Delhi on June 6 for the first street protest by the satirical “Cockroach People’s Party” over alleged irregularities in major examinations held in the country recently. | Photo Credit:  Arun SANKAR / AFP

So when it began on the 16th of May, it began as a joke—political satire, like you said. How do you analyse the virality with which CJP has grown and the huge number of supporters it has garnered, at least in the social media sphere as of now? And most of your supporters are Gen Z.

I think the comment by the CJI was just a trigger point. There is a far bigger reason behind it because one single comment wouldn’t have caused this much mobilisation. There could have been an outrage, but this is a mobilisation—this is a big message. When I try to talk to these people and understand what they are looking for and why they joined CJP, I find that most of them have totally given up on the current political ecosystem due to rising unemployment and the various exam fiascos—NEET, CBSE. And just today we got news that the JEE Advanced result data was leaked.

This is not stopping, and many students are being affected. The unemployment rate is the highest it has been in the last 45 years. These are the underlying reasons for such huge support for the CJP, because nobody—not the government, not other political parties—has been able to address these concerns of the youth.

The CJP was like the spark that resulted in this sort of online outrage. The context, like you said—NEET, the CBSE fiasco, the CUET exam fiasco—all of that provided the context for this to grow. Why do you think Gen Z has been able to respond with such readiness to CJP? And what does it tell us about the traditional parties? Have they failed to connect with Gen Z, with the young generation? Is there a disconnect between them?

I think there’s a big disconnect. The first thing is the way traditional political parties communicate. They mostly do press conferences or go on mainstream television, which nobody watches anymore. None of the Gen Z actually watches TV news channels where all the political parties do is yell at each other, blame each other—there’s no concrete substance in their discussions. Since it’s all just noise and zero substance, Gen Z stopped following mainstream politics.

And when something like CJP emerges and speaks about being unemployed, being dismissed as lazy, or being looked down upon for being chronically online—these people connect with it. It is not their fault that they are unemployed. It’s not their fault that the exams are in a fiasco. They are the victims of it. They are the victims of unemployment. It’s the failure of the government and the political ecosystem, which has completely failed to address these concerns.

Is it also a reflection on the leadership of these parties—the present political leadership that we have?

Yeah, totally. I don’t see any young leader in India in today’s existing political parties. Most of them are in their 60s and 70s. How can Gen Z relate to them? That is a big gap. We need young leadership in India’s political ecosystem.

Are we going to see Gen Z play a more important role in the coming elections? Do you think they are going to make a difference?

For sure they are going to make a difference because they are really dissatisfied, really disappointed, and they no longer want to be ignored or taken for granted. They are going to make their voices heard and will definitely create a big difference going forward.

Not all the reaction CJP has got has been favourable. A lot of questions are being asked, doubts have been expressed—who is really behind CJP, who’s funding it, who are the forces behind it, and what is the real intent behind the CJP campaign? How would you answer all these questions?

I think it’s really sad that people are making these kinds of allegations. What are we doing? We are just running some social media pages, which don’t require any kind of funding. All we need is Wi-Fi, and with the help of AI. We don’t even need designers. So I don’t know why we would need funding. That’s the first thing.

The second thing is: who is backing it? These are 22 million people. How can you define them as belonging to a certain section of any political ecosystem? Yes, I had a past with the AAP, which I told you about even before you asked me—I have been very vocal about it. But just because I had a past with a political party, does that dismiss the current situation these people are facing? More than 1 crore students are affected by the exam fiasco—22 lakh in NEET, 17 lakh in CBSE, 16 lakh in CUET, and 40 lakh in SSC GD. So more than 1 crore people are affected, and we have a following of more than 2 crore. Don’t you think that of those 2 crore, 1 crore could be the very students who were wronged by the system?

If this were because of any political backing, you would have seen this following on the channels of that specific political party. But why CJP? Because CJP is not associated with any political party. Gen Z and young people see it as a new platform for the youth. Let me be very clear: no political interference from any existing political party will be tolerated in the CJP. The people I am speaking to don’t want any political affiliation or involvement from anybody. They want to run this movement on their own.

It’s really interesting that you say that because some people are even saying that because of your past association with the Aam Aadmi Party, CJP is like a repeat of AAP—in disguise.

That’s what I’m trying to say. We have more than 2 crore people. Why doesn’t Aam Aadmi Party have 2 crore followers on social media, if this is AAP in disguise?

So, you’re coming back on June 6. It must have been a really difficult decision to take.

I didn’t actually discuss it with my family because I knew for sure they would never support it. I announced it publicly first and informed my parents later. When they got to know, they were really disappointed and sad. My mom was almost in tears, saying, “Please don’t come back. You know what the consequences could be—you might be jailed or something worse. Just stay there. You went there for a reason, to have a better life, so why don’t you stick to it?”

I am still trying to convince her, but I keep telling her that people have found hope in CJP, and it would be wrong of me to let that hope fade away. Because if I let this movement die and don’t come back to India, I would never be able to face myself. The youth of this country has finally found hope, and if I betray them today, they would never trust anyone going forward.

How does it feel to have the spotlight on yourself? Because you’ve always worked behind the scenes—even when you were with the Aam Aadmi Party. To now be leading a campaign, are you feeling the weight of expectations?

To be honest, I’m feeling really overwhelmed and a bit uncomfortable, because I was a very private person. If you check my social media, there isn’t even a single picture of myself on any platform. I used to have just 200 followers on Instagram—all people I met in college or childhood friends. When this whole thing blew up, people started calling me for interviews, news agencies were coming home—it just made me really awkward.

But I hope after 15 days, I’m doing pretty well at coming on camera, because this is really not my thing. Even my sister was yelling at me yesterday—“Whenever I used to ask you to get a picture clicked with me, you always used to run away. You were so camera-shy, and now you are going on giving interviews one after the other. What has gotten into you?” I told her I have no option now.

There’s a flip side to this as well—you have received threats, your family has received threats, and there have been some casteist attacks on you as well. How do you deal with that?

To be very honest, I did anticipate it. I have been making political comments on Twitter for a very long time, and whenever I said anything against the ruling party, I was called anti-national, linked to Pakistan, and so on. I was used to it and anticipated being under such attack.

But what I never expected was that my parents would be dragged into this. I got anonymous texts saying, “Don’t think just because you are in the US, we can’t harm you. Your family still lives in India. We will get them.” One person even recorded a video and sent it to me saying, “I am reaching your home by evening—see what I do to your parents.” When it came to my parents, I was genuinely worried. How do I deal with this? Their safety is my topmost priority. I had to move them to a different location. They have not been at home for the last 15 days and just want to go back to their normal life. But I have had to request them to wait a few more days because I don’t want to take any kind of risk with their safety.

Coming back on June 6—what is your immediate goal, your immediate plan, your agenda when you return?

I’ll be landing at Delhi airport at 8 AM on June 6th and will be joined by Sonam Wangchuk, who is also going to join the protest. After that, both of us, along with all the CJP supporters, will go to Parliament Street Police Station to notify the police and seek permission for a peaceful protest, because this is our constitutional right. We are going to be peaceful, and whatever we do will be within our democratic rights. Since we are following the Constitution, I hope the authorities also follow the Constitution and let young people have their voice in our democracy, because for far too long our voices have been ignored.

So you haven’t yet sought permission for the protest?

No, I’ll go there personally and seek permission.

As the CJP evolves from a social media campaign into an on-ground movement, a question that will be asked of you is: what is your ideology, and who are your icons?

I am a very secular person at heart. The ideology of the CJP—and many of our young people are also very progressive, liberal, and secular—will be secular, democratic, and socialist, and we will strive for social justice. As for my personal icons: I have been a huge fan of Mahatma Gandhi because I think he was the greatest freedom fighter and the greatest leader the world has ever seen. And coming from a Dalit family, Ambedkar obviously had a huge influence on my life. The reason I am sitting in Boston today is because of him—he gave us the right to equality, the right to a life of dignity. Without him, it wouldn’t have been possible. My grandfather was a farmer, and my father had to drop out of school at one point during the drought in Maharashtra in the ‘70s when they had no food. My father rejoined school after three years and went on to get a diploma. Till date, even after three or four decades, he is the only engineer from that village. It is because my father

was able to benefit from reservation that I am sitting in the US today. Without Ambedkar, this wouldn’t have been possible. Whatever my existence is, it is because of that great man.

Apart from that, I am also a big fan of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, because without him, India wouldn’t have been this modern and this progressive. Many countries that achieved freedom after a freedom struggle turned into autocratic nations led by a single autocrat. Pandit Nehru had that opportunity too—India had no election system, and the population was largely poor and illiterate, unaware even of their fundamental rights. In that moment, when he had absolute power, this man still chose to make this country a democracy. I think that is what sets Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru apart from everyone else.

Supporters of veteran social activist Anna Hazare shout slogans at the Ramlila grounds where Hazare is fasting in New Delhi August 25, 2011. | Photo Credit: Adnan Abidi/REUTERS

Do you have a feeling that you’ve started something really big? Maybe a turning point in our political history—a moment similar to the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement of 2011, which resulted in a change in our political dynamics. Do you think something similar is happening now?

When any political party stays in power for far too long, people get fed up. Back then, people were fed up of the UPA—the inflation, the rising corruption. The BJP has now been in power for the last 12 years, and people are finally seeing through all the big promises that were made but never delivered. People no longer want to be misled. And that is one similarity with the IAC movement—that was also because the UPA was in its second term after 10 years in power, and this is the BJP’s third term. That’s the pattern here.

So June 6th would be a moment of truth for you. You’ve received tremendous response online. How confident are you that you’re going to receive a good turnout of youngsters and others on June 6th?

Whenever I check my phone, I’m receiving hundreds of messages from people saying they are going to come. My number was already leaked online by others trying to threaten me, but the counter benefit is that hundreds of people are reaching out to tell me they’ll be at Jantar Mantar. Whenever I open Instagram, thousands of comments say, “We are just waiting for you—you just landed in Delhi, and we’ll be there with you.” The student unions of Delhi—I really want to thank all the student unions who have extended their support. They are also going to be there. I’m expecting a large number of people at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of the Education Minister.

What structure have you been able to put in place so far? And if I may ask, who are your compatriots in this?

I have a backend team of 25 to 30 people—all of them are young, college kids. Because of the kind of attacks and threats I’m receiving, they’ve said, “Please don’t reveal our identity. We will actively work for you in the backend and we want CJP to go forward, but we don’t want to come forward.” I understand, and I don’t want to put these kids at risk either. Apart from

that, yesterday we announced three spokespersons who will coordinate with the media and put our agenda forward.

We are still evolving and still reaching out to people—it has just been 15 days, and we didn’t expect it to become this big a movement. As we go forward, we will be allocating more responsibilities to more people.

One final question. We are already seeing CJP evolve from something online into something on the ground. In the coming months, or in the foreseeable future, can we see CJP turning into a political party and fighting elections?

It would be too early to say anything on that because, as I said, it has just been 15 days, and none of us had planned or intended this. For now, CJP is a social movement of the youth, led by the youth, which will try to hold the government accountable and change the political discourse of the country.