A new, or 325 million year old, creature has just taken the subcontinent by storm. It was this “misinterpretation” of cockroaches being compared to humans that gave rise to a satirical online organization – Cockroach Janata Party.CJP). But what perhaps started as a simple joke or political satire for a few thousand people has captured the imagination and support of millions.The party’s manifesto demanded a ban on post-retirement Rajya Sabha seats for chief justices, media neutrality, 50 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and a 20-year election ban on MLAs and MPs who switch parties. The eligibility criteria for its membership were: ‘unemployed, lazy, online for a long time, ability to boast professionally.’While critics have questioned the purpose of the CJP, the fact remains that this “party” now technically has more followers than both mainstream political parties combined – BJP And Congress – Have been united. Accusations are made from both sides of the coin, people are on the fence and engagement is skyrocketing at even a single mention of this “party”. Why?Why is it resonating among millions of people? Or is it actually resonating?To understand this impact, one must situate memes within the contemporary attention economy, where scarcity of human attention has replaced scarcity of information (Lanham, 2006). The 21st century has seen a fundamental change in the way youth consume politics. They don’t even wake up to newspapers anymore. There are no longer news channels playing on TV as ambient noise in the evening. The medium is now in your hands – you scroll for knowledge. You scroll, you don’t see. You have to find what you want to know, it has to make enough noise over the other 1.5 billion posts made per day.
This is what Gil de Zuniga, Strauss, and Huber have called the “news finds me” perception. This explains why the initial comment on the cockroach comparison during a court hearing did not spread through court transcripts – it was interpreted through memes, which multiplied the excitement over the comment. When news has to be found for you through an algorithm, only the most unsettling pieces emerge. CJP is, at its core, a meme that you found and then became news. Its virality forced its changes and coverage. It is currently under this cycle that has retained its popularity. The moment he breaks from the cycle – what is his future?An organization like the CJP is almost a textbook case of what falls under Bakhtin’s carnival. According to Bakhtin, carnival is a licensed space where hierarchy is suspended, where the king can be mocked by the jester. The word cockroach was reportedly used to refer to unemployed youth. But then these comments got involved within the carnival itself, the people who had to bear the brunt of this statement formed a party against him and believe that this is wrong in Indian politics. Dissent within the political sphere is prevalent, expected and encouraged in social media but the popularity of this movement turns it into the definition of carnival. Yet the tent ultimately falls on whether CJP truly wants to become an entity of its own or just become a viral carnival.Poe’s law complicates any simple answer. Online, honest extremism and satirical extremism wear the same clothes. Is CJP a real political movement? a joke? a demonstration? The answer is all three together. Its obscurity protects it from fair persecution. Threats can be sent, allegations of being a Pakistani front can be made and accounts can be deleted. But at their core they are protected and political. You can’t capture a punchline. You cannot file an FIR against a meme. The CJP exists in a fog between sarcasm and sincerity, and that fog is its best defense and the reason its numbers can grow.Steps taken by some in power to curb CJP’s popularity, such as allegations and platform inefficiencies, are helping him remain popular. Each act of censorship brings new sign-ups, new attention, and fresh memes. This can be compared to the Streisand effect. Named after Barbra Streisand, who sued a photographer for removing an aerial photograph of her Malibu mansion from the public shoreline erosion collection in 2003. The photo had been downloaded only six times before the lawsuit. After she filed it, the image was viewed by more than 400,000 people. Trying to hide something made it impossible to ignore. The same logic applies here also.Social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) explains the rest. People derive their sense of self from the groups to which they belong, and Homo sapiens is a social animal. We have an inherent need to belong. By calling themselves cockroaches, millions of young Indians aren’t just sharing a joke, they’re signaling membership. This membership was also inspired by those around them, there was group level consideration in the decisions made Because a lot of CJP’s membership did no background research on what and who they were supporting in an effort to be a part of something bigger, they created something extremely viral but also extremely empty. What does anyone really know about CJP? Do the founders even understand what CJP is?Memes have become the language of the internet. That means they have become the language of online politics. Accessible. Easy. No conflict. A meme asks nothing from you except a second of recognition. You don’t think about it. You watch it, it entertains you, you share it and you move on. This is why the form works. This is why it fails. The shared language is fine for basic conversation. But it struggles with depth. This allows you to not project any depth and still go viral but isn’t really critical. A party legitimized through AI and memes lacks the depth to be sustained or taken seriously.
Which leads us to slothism.The Internet has made it incredibly easy to align yourself with a purpose. A follow button. A Google Form. Repost a story. CJP has mastered this low-inhibition engagement. you wanna join? Fill out this form. Do you want to show support? Repost this meme. Do you want to feel like you’re part of something? Here’s a hashtag. #MeTooCockroach. Done. Our purpose, something we ourselves are not entirely clear about, is something you stand by? Add a cockroach emoji to your username. You are now a member. You have contributed. You can scroll.But what does that actually mean?CJP’s eligibility criteria – unemployed, lazy, constantly online – is a joke. But it is also a mirror. What’s the point of membership if it only takes one click to join? If the primary activity of the movement is to share memes, what has really been accomplished?This is the slacktivism problem. The ease of online participation creates the illusion of influence. You hit follow. You sign a Google form. You repost a meme. You are feeling good. You feel like you’ve accomplished something. But do you have it? Carnival needs spectators. The meme needs to spread. But when the carnival is over, when the meme phase is over, what is left?We commend CJP for its impact. But we must not forget that membership is a form of social currency. And membership here also requires currency.CJP performs inclusively but is exclusive. People are talking about it. Member. People who are “in” on the joke. They are the elite people of our country. High class. upper middle class. English speaking. Constantly online by choice, not circumstance. They have the data plans, the tools, the hours of scrolling, the cultural capital to understand the contexts. They are the only people who can afford to be lazy.This is not a true people’s party. There may be a voting symbol in it. Social media can be taken advantage of in this. But beyond that, what’s really in it?
The digital divide is not just about access to technology. It’s about access to culture. Memes require knowledge. Learning requires time. Time requires privilege. CJP’s humor is internal humor. If you don’t get the joke you are an outsider. And if you are an outsider then this movement does not matter to you.So who exactly is CJP for? The answer is inconvenient. This is for people like us. Educated. Joined together. Those who already have a voice.Its virility may potentially be the only trace left.
