Dipke Newslaundry Interview: Key Quotes and What He Said
Published 24 May 2026 · 8 min read · CJP Newsroom
On May 23, 2026, Newslaundry journalist Manisha Pande interviewed Abhijeet Dipke from Boston. The headline said it all: "I Started a Joke — Now I Get Death Threats." The original is behind a subscription paywall. This post compiles editorial highlights from Dipke's public statements and reporting across multiple news outlets that covered the interview and the events surrounding it. All quotes are sourced and linked.
By May 23, 2026 — eight days after the Cockroach Janta Party was founded as a joke on Instagram — Abhijeet Dipke was fielding calls from international outlets, watching his platforms disappear one by one, and telling a journalist at Newslaundry that he'd received a WhatsApp message threatening to have him killed in America. The title of the interview captured everything that had happened in a week: "I Started a Joke — Now I Get Death Threats."
The interview: context and what Newslaundry covered
Newslaundry journalist Manisha Pande conducted the interview on May 23, 2026 — the same day MeitY blocked the CJP website under Section 69A of the IT Act, and the same day Dipke's Instagram accounts were hacked. The conversation took place remotely, with Dipke speaking from Boston, Massachusetts, where he is enrolled in a Master's programme in Public Relations at Boston University.
The interview covered: the death threats, the IB's designation of CJP as a national security threat, the platform crackdowns, and Dipke's own account of how a satirical Instagram movement became a live political controversy inside two weeks. The original interview is available at Newslaundry for subscribers: newslaundry.com.
The IB called CJP a "national security threat" — Dipke's reaction
Reports circulating on May 23 — and referenced in Newslaundry's coverage — indicated that the Intelligence Bureau had flagged the Cockroach Janta Party as a "national security threat." This designation was understood to be the basis for the Section 69A block on the CJP website, as well as the IB input cited in the order withholding the @CJP_2029 X account in India.
The Wire reported that the X account was withheld "following a legal demand citing national security concerns from India's Intelligence Bureau." (The Wire)
Dipke's response to the "national security threat" framing, across his public statements in this period, was to describe it as disproportionate and absurd — characterising the government's reaction as more revealing than the movement itself.
"Those in power think citizens are cockroaches and parasites. They should know that cockroaches breed in rotten places. That's what India is today."
"As expected Cockroach Janta Party's account has been withheld in India."
"Finally, we have come to know of our identity in this country that we are seen like cockroaches."
The death threats: what he said
On May 22, 2026, Dipke received a WhatsApp message from an anonymous number. He published a screenshot publicly rather than staying quiet. The threat read:
"Close down CJP or get killed. We can get you killed even in America."
The Hindi framing — "US Me Marwa Denge" — spread alongside the screenshot. In the Newslaundry interview, Dipke addressed this directly. His framing was both the interview's headline and its anchor:
"I started a joke — now I get death threats."
The death threat was reported by Deccan Herald, NewsX, and others as having arrived from multiple anonymous WhatsApp numbers. Dipke's screenshots circulated widely. (Deccan Herald)
For the full account of the death threats, the hack sequence, and what happened to every CJP platform, see: CJP founder gets death threats — full story.
The platform losses: what he said about the hacks and website block
By the time the Newslaundry interview was published, Dipke had lost access to every major CJP platform. He made a public statement that circulated widely:
"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."
"Cockroach Janta Party's official Instagram account has been hacked. We have lost the access to the account."
The platform losses occurred in a compressed sequence: the X account withheld on May 21 under MeitY order; the main Instagram (22M+ followers) hacked on May 23; Dipke's personal Instagram hacked separately; the backup account (@cockroachisback, 198.6K followers) taken down; the website cockroachjantaparty.org blocked under Section 69A. Al Jazeera confirmed the website block, citing a direct statement from Dipke. (Al Jazeera)
The Tihar fear: what he said about returning to India
Speaking from Boston in the days around the Newslaundry interview, Dipke addressed the prospect of returning to India. He was direct about the fear:
"I feel that as soon as I land at Delhi airport, a convoy of Delhi Police will take me to Tihar Jail."
No FIR had been filed against Dipke or any CJP member as of May 23, 2026 — the date of the Newslaundry interview. No NIA investigation had been formally confirmed. The fear was not based on any known pending charge; it reflected Dipke's read of the political climate around CJP. For the full Tihar analysis, see: Will Abhijeet Dipke be arrested? The Tihar Jail statement explained.
His view on the movement's future
Despite the scale of the crackdown, Dipke did not signal any intention to shut down CJP. His public statements from this period point in the opposite direction:
"I am not happy that we have more followers. What will happen with it? The issues remain the same."
The statement reflects a consistent thread in Dipke's public communication during this period: skepticism about follower counts as a measure of political progress. CJP had crossed 22 million Instagram followers in roughly a week — one of the fastest-growing political accounts in Indian history — and gathered 600,000+ petition signatures. Dipke framed this not as a victory but as an unresolved problem that the follower count hadn't fixed.
His view on what the movement is trying to do has stayed grounded in the same issues CJP was founded around: unemployment, judicial accountability, vote deletion, and the 55% women's reservation demand. For context on the movement's founding and what it actually wants, see: Abhijeet Dipke biography and the CJP leaders page.
What the Newslaundry interview means for understanding CJP
The Manisha Pande interview is the most detailed long-form account of Dipke's thinking during the crackdown week. Its headline — "I Started a Joke — Now I Get Death Threats" — does three things at once: it acknowledges the satirical origin of CJP, names the escalation clearly, and refuses to treat the two as separate stories.
Across the interview and the surrounding coverage, a consistent picture emerges: a 30-year-old from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, studying PR in Boston, who launched a satirical Instagram account and found himself fielding death threats, IB designations, platform takedowns, and international press — all within a fortnight. He is not walking it back. He has not closed down CJP. The movement runs from cockroachjantaparty.buzz, which has received no Section 69A order and remains accessible in India.
Whether CJP is satire, a serious political movement, or both, is answered here: Is CJP real? and Is CJP satire or serious?.
IB called it a threat. He called it a joke. The movement is still here.
Get the digital member badge. Show you were here before it was a history lesson.
Join CJP FreeBuy the digital badge
Related: CJP founder gets death threats — full story · Abhijeet Dipke biography · CJP leaders · Will Dipke be arrested? · Is CJP real? · Join CJP
Sources: Newslaundry — primary interview (paywalled) · Al Jazeera · The Wire (X account block) · Tribune India (Tihar quote) · Deccan Herald (death threat) · WION (platforms) · The Federal (AAP background)