Old footage misrepresented online as Cockroach Janta Party founder leaving India
- Published on July 31, 2026 at 11:28
- 3 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
The social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement called off its protests in New Delhi over leaked exam papers and other irregularities after India's education minister resigned on July 25, 2026. But social media posts claiming a video shows the satirical party's founder leaving for the United States afterwards are false; the clip was filmed a month earlier at an airport in Jaipur city, where Abhijeet Dipke had travelled to attend another demonstration.
"After securing justice for the students, Abhijeet has left for the US," reads part of a Hindi-language X post shared on July 26.
A 26-second video attached to the post shows Dipke at an airport with other people.
The clip appeared alongside similar claims on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan amid widespread youth-led protests organised by the CJP, a play on India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (archived link).
The satirical party, launched online in May by Dipke -- a 30-year-old public relations graduate from Boston University seeking employment back in the United States -- quickly attracted millions of followers (archived link).
Dipke arrived in the Indian capital from the United States on June 6 amid tightened police security to seek permission for holding peaceful protests (archived link).
The online movement spilt into the streets as thousands of youth gathered in New Delhi, where police used tear gas and baton charges when protesters tried to march towards parliament on July 20 (archived link).
The demonstrations drew massive support from students across the country, presenting a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
The administration later accepted the CJP's demands -- including Pradhan's resignation, compensation for exam irregularities and dropping cases against protesters. The demonstrations were called off on July 25 (archived link).
Comments on several posts sharing the footage of Dipke criticised the CJP founder for supposedly leaving India for the United States after the protests.
"Why did he run away? He should have stayed put. He fled out of fear," one user said.
But the clip circulating online is not recent -- it was taken weeks ago as Dipke arrived in the Indian city of Jaipur.
Unrelated video
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found a clip shared on Facebook on June 15 (archived link).
The caption says: "Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, arrived in Jaipur for a protest".
The same video spread in other social media posts saying it shows Dipke's trip to Jaipur in mid-June for a protest (archived links here and here).
NDTV Rajasthan reported that Dipke had arrived in the city, located about 230 kilometres (145 miles) southwest of New Delhi, to lead a demonstration against exam irregularities. The Indian news website published a photo of him wearing the same clothes as those seen in the footage shared online (archived link).
Elements from the video circulating in the false social media posts also match images of Jaipur Airport on Google Maps (archived link).
On the future of the CJP, Dipke told Indian news agency ANI on July 26: "We will announce the future strategy soon. It only just ended yesterday; please give us a little time" (archived link).
AFP found no credible reports that Dipke had left India for the United States. ANI reported on July 29 that he visited his home in western Maharashtra state (archived link).
AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation related to the CJP-led protests.
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