The sudden rise of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on social media has left the parents of its founder Abhijit Debke anxious and restless, fearing he will face arrest or other trouble.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel, Bhagwan and Anita Deepki, who live in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district of Maharashtra, said they did not want their son to enter politics. They added that they have lost sleep since they learned about his latest political venture, news agency PTI reported.
They said these concerns were “normal” in light of the current political climate.
“If we look at politics nowadays, fear is normal, no matter how many followers one has,” Bhagwan Debki said. In one of his interviews, he himself expressed his fear of being arrested after returning to India. “We read about such incidents in newspapers,” Bhagwan Debki said.
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“We won’t support it,” says Anita Debke.
Abhijeet’s mother, Anita Debaki, said that she wants her son to stay away from politics and focus on building a career, adding that she will not support him in that.
“We just want him to return home safely,” she said. “It will be his decision to continue in politics, but we don’t want him to continue that. I don’t know if he will listen to us or not. I will not support him in this. I am worried about him.”
Anita said that Abhijeet initially studied at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar before moving to Pune for higher education. She added that engineering was difficult for him, but he later turned towards media studies.
Abhijeet then moved abroad to study journalism because his sister was already living there, his father said. Bhagwan Deepki added that he was hoping his son would take up a job in Pune or Delhi instead.
Read also: X blocks CJP’s account in India, platform says due to ‘legal request’
Parents say they were not aware of the formation of CJP
Debke’s parents said they were initially unaware of the formation of the party and only learned about it through neighbors. Later, their descendants reported on the rapid growth in the group’s social media following, including the fact that it had surpassed the number of followers of many prominent public figures and political parties.
Anita Deepki said she also discouraged her son from entering politics when he was earlier working with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“Later, one of my grandchildren told me that he has more followers on social media than many prominent people in the country. Earlier, he was working with AAP. Even then, I told him that we are not interested in politics and that he should pursue service,” she said.
Bhagwan Debki said the CJP’s sudden outburst on social media made him very worried.
“I’m worried because he’s now famous. People like this are getting arrested. I haven’t slept for the past two nights worrying about what might happen to him. I hate politics and have no interest in it,” he said.
Read also: Founder of the Cockroach Janta Party claims to have received death threats: “America, who is this Marwa Dengi?”
Rise of Sarsour Janta Party on social media
The party’s number of followers has now crossed 19 million on Instagram, surpassing the number of BJP followers on the platform. In X, the party’s original account was blocked in India in response to a legal request.
However, hours later, another account called “Cockroach is Back” appeared on X and gained more than 21,000 followers in just over an hour. The profile bio says: “Cockroaches don’t die!”
The first post on the new account read: “Did you think you could get rid of us? Haha.”
Why was the party formed?
The Cockroach Janta Party was founded by Abhijit Debaki following the controversy surrounding the remarks of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who used the terms “parasites” and “cockroaches” while referring to unemployed youth.
Much of the party’s content focuses on issues affecting young people, including unemployment, exam paper leaks and education. Its messages are compiled through graphics, animations, satirical statements and Charter-style requirements.
