Vir Das Reacts to Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) Account Hack: ‘An Utterly Dumb Move’

After the Cockroach Janata Party movement's X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts experienced issues, Vir Das responded with the following statement.

Since the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) movement gained prominence, its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, has stated that attempts have been made to shut down its social media accounts. Following the recent incident involving CJP's Instagram account, actor and comedian Vir Das stated that such instances just 'legitimise' the movement more.

Vir Das responds to the Cockroach Janata Party's social media woes. 

On Saturday, Vir took to X (previously Twitter) to remark that suppressing CJP's social media accounts was a 'utterly foolish action'. He stated, "Whether the cockroach janta party is a real movement or not is not the point. Time will tell. However, the traction they gained, the sentiment behind it, and the rhetoric of the youth were all legitimate. 

And if that wasn't enough, shutting down their accounts was a completely dumb move that legitimised everything." "Vir sir, the Cockroach Janta Party has already achieved what most political parties can't in decades, they made 'cockroach' sound like a revolutionary title," observed one X user, agreeing with Vir. Another added, “Stupid to disable the accounts. It would have died by itself in another couple of months, like all other fade.” Not everyone agreed, with one X user claiming, “Shutting them down was the right move, no sane person pay heed to such drama.”

What does the Cockroach Janata Party claim? 

This comes minutes after CJP founder Abhijeet claimed on X, “Crackdown on Cockroach Janta Party. - Instagram page hacked. - My personal Instagram hacked. - Twitter account withheld - Back up account also taken down.” He also added, “Please note that we currently do not have access to any of our platforms. Any post made after this should not be considered an official statement from the Cockroach Janta Party.” The movement was founded May 16 by 30-year-old political strategist Abhijeet in response to a remark by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Surya Kant.

Earlier this week, the creator shared an image of the CJP X account being withheld. His caption read: “As expected Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India.” The screenshot indicates that the account was withheld in response to a 'legal demand'. Vir re-posted it, commenting, "It's giving the full Streisand effect."

The Streisand Effect is a psychological and sociological phenomena in which attempting to conceal, censor, or eliminate information unintentionally makes it much more widely recognised.

This year, Vir made his directorial debut and acted in the Aamir Khan-produced Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos. The film is available for streaming on Netflix.