NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Saturday morning granted official permission to the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ (CJP), a popular social media platform, to hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. The protest has been organized to demand the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the recent controversy surrounding the NEET paper leak.
The demonstration is being spearheaded by the digital platform’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, who arrived in Delhi from the United States on Friday. Upon his arrival, Delhi Police officials met Dipke at the airport to coordinate logistics and authorized the transition of the protest to the designated site at Jantar Mantar.
Initially, Dipke had called upon his followers to gather outside the Parliament Street Police Station to collectively demand permission for the rally. However, following the green light from law enforcement, he issued an update urging supporters to head straight to Jantar Mantar instead. Photographed exiting the airport, Dipke was seen holding a copy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s autobiography.
In anticipation of the gathering, Delhi Police have heavily fortified the area, deploying approximately 2,000 security personnel at Jantar Mantar and surrounding locations in Central Delhi to maintain law and order.
Literature distributed by the Cockroach Janta Party at the venue outlined their core objectives, stating that the demonstration is a peaceful call for “demanding accountability, seeking justice, and calling for education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.” According to the group’s organizers, an online petition launched by the platform demanding the minister’s step-down has already garnered over 800,000 signatures.
The Cockroach Janta Party was launched as a satirical digital outfit by Dipke on May 16, following public discourse surrounding Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s “parasites” and “cockroaches” remarks. The satirical movement quickly resonated online, gaining millions of social media followers within a short span before transitioning into ground-level activism.
