Cockroach Janata Party gains support from Kerala youth leaders across parties

The Cockroach Janata Party, a satirical social media account, has drawn support from several young political leaders in Kerala belonging to the ruling Congress, its ally the IUML, and the opposition CPI(M).

Newly elected MLAs Abin Varkey (Congress), P K Navas and T P Ashrafali (IUML), and V K Sanoj CPI(M) on Friday expressed support for the CJP.

The satirical movement has also received backing from student leaders, with Students' Federation of India (SFI) state president M Sivaprasad speaking in its favour.

Speaking to a television channel, Varkey, former state vice president of the Youth Congress, said there was nothing wrong in supporting a movement raising legitimate concerns against the Centre.

He said the issues raised by CJP were important.

''The demand by CJP for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other issues raised by it are valid, and there is nothing wrong in supporting them,'' he said.

On CJP's original X handle being withheld in India, Varkey said there had been attempts by the Centre to shut down independent news portals and social media handles, which reflected a ''fascist'' tendency.

''Why is the Centre scared? It shows that the issues raised by CJP are hitting where they should,'' he said, adding that this was why attempts were being made to restrict them.

Navas also said the Centre was uneasy over the influence CJP had gained among youth in a short time and alleged that this was why its X handle was being blocked.

In a Facebook post, the IUML MLA said CJP had become a platform for the voices of poor and unemployed youth, which had unsettled the central government.

He alleged that the Centre could not tolerate youth speaking out on political, social, and economic issues amid attempts to divert attention through communal and divisive politics.

''No one should think that questions raised by youth-whose lives have been affected by exam paper leaks and corruption-can be silenced through digital censorship,'' he wrote.

He called for resistance against what he described as ''anti-people'' and ''fascist'' policies of the central government.

His party colleague Ashrafali also said the Centre was afraid of the satirical movement and urged support for the issues it raised.

He said the creation of a new X handle after the original was withheld showed that the movement would not be intimidated.

''If they can gain more followers than the BJP on social media in a few days, it is not a small movement. They have considerable influence among youth and strong potential in India,'' Ashrafali told a television channel.

He said more such movements should exist to enable people to express views on government functioning.

''This will only improve our democratic system. Trying to suppress such movements is childish and amounts to burning down the house to kill a rat,'' he said.

He added that the movement was similar to those led by former CM of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and activist Anna Hazare.

Sanoj also said the issues of corruption and unemployment raised by CJP were serious and could not be dismissed.

He said alleged caste-based remarks against the CJP founder and action against its social media handles were not appropriate in a democratic system.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)