With the Cockroach Janata Party’s Instagram page crossing the BJP’s 9 million followers mark, what began as a satirical campaign now appears to be snowballing into an online movement.

BJP leaders and Right-wing influencers have reacted to this by claiming that a large chunk of the page’s followers is based in Pakistan. Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha secretary Tajinder Bagga posted a graphic containing a pie chart of the CJP’s followers, claiming that 49% were from Pakistan, 14% from the United States, 14% from Bangladesh, and only 9% from India, with the United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE accounting for the remainder. Bagga captioned it ‘Pakistan Janata Party’. (Archive)

Right Wing influencer Rishi Bagree also posted the same graphic and called it “The Truth of Cockroach Janta Party”. (Archive)

ABP News journalist Chitra Tripathi also amplified the viral claim on Facebook. She wrote, “Half of the Cockroach Janata Party’s followers are Pakistani”, while citing Bagga.

Zee-owned news outlet WION also published a report about the “foreign followers” on the CJP’s Instagram page. “Pakistan angle to ‘Cockroach Janta Party’? Netizens flag large number of Pak, Bangladesh and Turkey-based followers”, their post on X read. (Archive)

Several others on X also amplified the viral claim.

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Fact  Check

Alt News reached out to Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janata Party, who provided a screen recording of the CJP’s official Instagram page showing its followers’ demographics. India accounts for 94.7% of the page’s viewers, followed by the United States at 1%, the United Kingdom at 0.7%, and Canada and the United Arab Emirates at 0.6% each.

It is worth noting that neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh appears in the CJP’s actual followers’ data. Dipke took to Twitter himself to refute the viral claims. In the screenshot he uploaded on May 21, at 5:17 pm, similar stats can be seen.

The X handle of the CJP, which had over 200,000 followers, has been withheld in India as of May 21, within 5 days of its formation. “As expected, the Cockroach Janata Party’s account has been withheld in India,” Dipke posted on X, sharing a screenshot.

As it stands, Bagga’s claim, amplified by many other users, that a major chunk of the CJP’s follower base is Pakistani, is false. According to stats shared by the founder, Abhijeet Dipke, 90% of the CJP’s viewers are Indian.

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About the Author

Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation.