In May 2026 a chart claiming that 49% of the Cockroach Janta Party's followers were in Pakistan spread on X and was repeated by a Union minister. The claim is false: the party's Instagram analytics show 94.7% of followers in India, and Pakistan does not appear in the data at all.
Claim: About half of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) social media followers are Pakistani, and only 9% are Indian.
Said by: BJYM national secretary Tajinder Bagga, influencer Rishi Bagree and others on X; Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar repeated the 49% figure.
What the record shows: The CJP's Instagram follower breakdown lists India at 94.7%, followed by the US, UK, Canada and the UAE. Two third-party audience tools also showed a mostly Indian audience. Alt News
Where the claim came from
The CJP began as a satirical post by Abhijeet Dipke on 16 May 2026 and passed 10 million Instagram followers in under five days. Wikipedia As it grew, critics questioned where those followers came from.
On 21 May 2026 Tajinder Bagga posted a pie chart on X captioned "Pakistan Janta Party". It said 49% of followers were in Pakistan, 14% in the US, 14% in Bangladesh and only 9% in India. The same day Rishi Bagree shared the graphic as "The Truth of Cockroach Janta Party". Alt News
The claim then moved into mainstream coverage. ABP News journalist Chitra Tripathi wrote on Facebook that half the party's followers were Pakistani, citing Bagga, and WION ran a report on 22 May framed around a "Pakistan angle". Alt News Claim · Sukanta Majumdar Union minister Sukanta Majumdar also said 49% of CJP followers were from Pakistan. Telegraph No source for the pie chart was ever given.
What the evidence shows
Documented Alt News asked Dipke for the account's own data. He supplied a screen recording of the official Instagram follower demographics: India 94.7%, United States 1%, United Kingdom 0.7%, and Canada and the UAE 0.6% each. "Neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh appears in the CJP's actual followers' data," Alt News wrote. Alt News
Dipke posted a similar screenshot on X, timed 5:17 pm on 21 May, and asked: "Why would you call 94% of Indian youth as Pakistanis?" Alt News
Because the first figures came from the founder, Decode checked independently. It ran the account through two third-party tools, MoDash and HypeAuditor. One estimate put the Indian audience above 95% and another above 75%. "Neither supports the Pakistan narrative," Decode wrote, while noting that no outside tool can fix follower locations with certainty because Instagram does not publish that data. Decode
Alt News rated the claim false. Alt News
Context
The follower claim was one of several attempts to tie the CJP to Pakistan or foreign money. Kiren Rijiju referred to a "Pakistan & George Soros gang". Frontline Around the same time, the CJP's X account was withheld in India on government orders, a block the Delhi High Court revoked on 7 July. The full story is on our Cockroach Janta Party protests page.
Questions people ask
Where are the CJP's Instagram followers from?
The account's own analytics, shared with Alt News in May 2026, showed 94.7% of followers in India. No other country had more than 1%.
Who said 49% of CJP followers were Pakistani?
A pie chart with that figure was posted by BJYM's Tajinder Bagga on 21 May 2026 and repeated by Union minister Sukanta Majumdar. No source for the chart was given.
Did any independent tool back the Pakistan claim?
No. Decode checked MoDash and HypeAuditor, and both showed a mostly Indian audience.
Sources
- Alt News: Claim that majority of CJP followers are Pakistani is false, 22 May 2026
- Decode: The claims used to discredit Cockroach Janta Party don't hold up, 26 May 2026
- Telegraph: Sukanta Majumdar claims 49 per cent CJP followers from Pakistan, May 2026
- Wikipedia: Cockroach Janta Party, accessed 9 Oct 2026
- Frontline: Cockroach Janta Party and Gen Z political mobilisation, 2026
