Quick answer: Scroll reports that the Cockroach Janta Party has divided the INDIA bloc. Leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress have welcomed CJP as a platform for youth anger, while Congress has kept its distance and treated the movement more sceptically. Scroll frames this divergence as another sign of internal divisions inside the Opposition alliance.
Everyone wants youth anger.
Not everyone knows what to do when youth anger arrives wearing antennae.
What Scroll reported
Scroll’s article, titled “Why INDIA bloc is welcoming the Cockroach Janta Party – but Congress is not”, reports that leaders from major Opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have voiced support for CJP over the past week.
At the same time, Scroll notes that Congress, the largest Opposition party, has chosen to keep its distance even though it has long raised issues similar to CJP’s themes: judicial independence, media freedom and election integrity.
That contrast is the story.
Why INDIA bloc allies are welcoming CJP
Scroll spoke to representatives from different INDIA bloc parties. Most of them saw CJP as a sign of growing discontent against the Modi government, especially among young Indians.
For these parties, CJP is useful because it is not their official campaign. It is outside the party system. That gives it a credibility traditional parties often struggle to build among young people.
When a party raises an issue, voters ask what that party did when it was in power. When a social-media movement raises the same issue, it can travel without the baggage of old governments.
AAP’s position: youth needed a platform
Scroll quotes AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh acknowledging that Abhijeet Dipke had previously been associated with AAP, but rejecting the allegation that AAP had propped up CJP.
Singh welcomed the initiative and said young people needed an alternative platform to express anger. He also argued that Opposition parties should stay out of the movement because if they stand behind CJP too openly, it may put the movement’s credibility at risk.
That is an important admission: CJP is powerful partly because it is not seen as just another party campaign.
Samajwadi Party’s position: outside-party anger travels faster
Scroll reports that Samajwadi Party leaders made a similar point. SP spokesperson Udaiveer Singh said there is resentment among youth for many reasons, and that an issue gets more support when it is raised outside a party forum.
That explains why Akhilesh Yadav’s short line — “BJP versus CJP” — worked politically.
It did not require a long manifesto. It turned CJP into a direct contrast against the ruling party.
TMC’s position: any platform taking on BJP is welcome
Scroll quotes Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien saying that any platform taking on the BJP is welcome. He also pointed to the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha vote share and said many like-minded parties would be on board.
This is the most pragmatic Opposition view: CJP may be satire, but if it mobilises anti-BJP sentiment, it becomes politically relevant.
For TMC, the cockroach is not only a meme. It is an anti-BJP surface.
Why Congress is not convinced
Congress has taken a different path. Scroll reports that senior Congress-linked figure Sandeep Dikshit dismissed the movement as a fad and said he does not take it seriously.
He questioned whether people clicking on something online should be considered political. He also compared the trend to people watching a film because others are watching it.
That is the classic old-politics reading of CJP: online attention is curiosity, not commitment.
Indian Youth Congress created its own cockroach response
Scroll also reports that the Indian Youth Congress created its own website and X account under the name Indian Youth Cockroaches, with a bio saying: “Real cockroaches fight on the streets, not just on timelines.”
That line is revealing.
Congress is not fully ignoring the cockroach trend. It is trying to define a different version of it: less meme, more street protest.
In other words, Congress is not rejecting the symbol entirely. It is contesting who gets to own the symbol.
The real divide: street politics vs internet politics
This is the deeper conflict inside the Scroll article.
For AAP, SP and TMC, CJP is valuable because it is a digital-first youth platform that can express anger without party baggage.
For Congress sceptics, CJP looks like shallow online politics that may let young people vent and then go back to old voting habits.
Both readings reveal something true.
CJP’s strength is its digital speed. Its weakness is that online attention still has to become durable organisation.
Why Congress should not underestimate CJP
Congress may be right that street politics matters. But it would be a mistake to treat digital politics as fake politics.
Young people do not separate online and offline life the way old parties do. They discover issues online, debate politics online, join movements online, and then sometimes move offline.
A party that dismisses online anger as unserious risks missing where youth politics is actually forming.
CJP’s advantage: it is not trying to be Congress
CJP does not need to behave like Congress to matter.
It does not need old party offices, press conferences, district presidents, or formal youth wings to be politically useful. Its job is different: make ignored anger visible, force questions into public debate, and create a symbolic identity around youth frustration.
That is why allies can welcome it and Congress can still hesitate.
What this means for CJP
Scroll’s article shows that CJP has entered Opposition strategy conversations. That is a major shift.
Once INDIA bloc parties start debating whether to support, ignore, copy or distance themselves from CJP, the movement has already crossed beyond meme status.
A meme does not divide an alliance.
A political force does.
CJP’s position
CJP should stay independent.
Let AAP welcome it. Let SP quote it. Let TMC support it. Let Congress doubt it. Let Youth Congress compete with it. But the colony should not become anyone’s youth wing.
CJP’s value comes from the fact that it is not fully owned by the old Opposition ecosystem.
Source
This article is based on Scroll’s report titled “Why INDIA bloc is welcoming the Cockroach Janta Party – but Congress is not”, written by Anant Gupta. Scroll reports that AAP, SP and TMC leaders have welcomed CJP, while Congress has kept its distance, with Sandeep Dikshit dismissing it as a fad and the Indian Youth Congress creating its own “Indian Youth Cockroaches” platform.
The cockroach record
AAP says youth needed a platform.
SP says outside-party anger travels further.
TMC says any platform taking on BJP is welcome.
Congress says it may be a fad.
That is fine.
The cockroach was never waiting for permission from the Opposition.
It crawled into politics because young people recognised themselves first.
Parties can welcome it, doubt it, copy it, or compete with it.
The colony will still decide where it goes.
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