We're real cockroaches: Youth Congress races against CJP, boasts of offline presence

New Delhi,UPDATED: May 26, 2026 13:38 IST

For nearly two weeks, India's political discourse has been dominated by an unlikely insect, a cockroach. The satirical online platform Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which emerged as a viral anti-BJP and BJP-led Centre satire on social media, has now found a rival, which claims to be the "real cockroach". The new cockroach in the ring is the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), the youth wing of the Congress party.

It was as if the Congress was feeling left out after the CJP took on the BJP. Claiming the metaphor, the Youth Congress has launched its own "Indian Youth Cockroaches" campaign, complete with videos with songs, memes, and a dedicated website.

Unlike the CJP, the Youth Congress insists it represents the "real cockroaches". Apart from the online presence, it says it is present on the streets and on the ground, unlike the CJP, which is an online phenomenon till now.

"A real cockroach isn't just an online revolutionary. It has to stay on the ground and confront the system," the Youth Congress posted from its official X handle.

YOUTH CONGRESS BRANDING ITSELF THE 'REAL COCKROACH'

The Youth Congress's claim of being the "real cockroach" rests on the argument that activism can't be confined to social media.

On May 24, the Youth Congress posted a video of a demonstration against the BJP-led Centre. The Youth Congress activists in the video criticised the BJP-led Centre on the UGC-NEET question paper leak.

"A real cockroach isn't just an online revolutionary. You have to be on the ground and take on the system," the video caption said.

The remark on "real cockroach" appears to be aimed directly at the CJP, whose popularity has largely been built through satirical digital content.

The videos shared by the Youth Congress under its "cockroach" campaign feature protests against the BJP-led Centre over issues such as the UGC-NEET paper leak, unemployment and hike in fuel prices in India.

Several clips show Youth Congress workers demonstrating outside government offices, staging street protests and raising slogans demanding accountability from Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak.

The CJP had made the NEET paper leak its first issue to attack the BJP-led Centre last week.

"Real Cockroaches in Tamil Nadu are fighting for the youth of this country with one clear demand, Sack Pradhan... This is the kind of resistance India needs. Glimpses from IYC's Rajbhavan March in Chennai," the Youth Congress captioned one of its video posts.

In other videos, Youth Congress members can be seen distributing Melody candies at fuel stations and handing out jhalmuri to passersby and auto-rickshaw drivers. The on-ground campaign seems to be propelled by the desire to take over the issues from the CJP.

The Youth Congress used Melody candies and jhalmuri as political props. These are references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gift of Melody chocolates to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and his jhalmuri-snacking during the West Bengal Assembly election campaign.

On social media, the Youth Congress is also promoting a website, inviting people to "Be a Cockroach". The website, called, "youthcockroach(dot)org" allows users to register for the campaign.

IS YOUTH CONGRESS TRYING TO CASH IN ON CJP's POPULARITY?

The Youth Congress began publicly embracing the "cockroach" branding in mid-May. This coincided with Abhijit Dipke, a Boston-based former AAP-linked content creator, launching the CJP platform online.

The Youth Congress' earliest cockroach-themed posts appeared around May 16-17, when it promoted "The Cockroach Times" and urged supporters to "Register as Cockroach".

While the Youth Congress's cockroach appropriation seems to have emerged shortly after the rise of the satirical CJP, according to a report in The Indian Express, their leaders said they began working on a cockroach-themed website immediately after the remarks by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on May 15.

The CJP was launched after Chief Justice Kant's remarks comparing some unemployed youths entering journalism and activism to "cockroaches". He later clarified what he meant.

Within days of its launch, the CJP's Instagram account surged past the follower counts of both the BJP and the Congress.

Youth Congress' social media head, Manu Jain, told The Indian Express that the party came out with something called the "Cockroach Times" on May 16 itself.

In fact, the Youth Congress handle on X since May 16 started using "The Cockroach Times" as a caption of various AI-generated posts on X, where it would put out newspaper-like cut-outs targeting the Centre. One, "The Cockroach Times" on May 16, was the "NEET Edition", other criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his speech in The Netherlands where he outlined "India's achievements".

Whether the Youth Congress is trying to cash in on a phenomenon created by the CJP or just amplifying a campaign it says was already underway is open to debate. What is clear is that the Youth Congress has entered the fray claiming to be the "real cockroach".

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