Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 256

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Today's Topics:

   1. Watch: "?I started a joke?now I get death threats?: Abhijeet
      Dipke on India?s Cockroach Party." (Vivek Pinto)
   2. Read: "The Indian Army Just Slashed a Colonel's Pension In
      Half. Other Veterans Got the Message" (Vivek Pinto)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 24 May 2026 12:01:53 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Watch: "?I started a joke?now I get death threats?:
	Abhijeet Dipke on India?s Cockroach Party."
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9w6MMa2+R1iggULKWTdvgiQnpWT5635mP6vmw2M4ntqcw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Manisha Pande
Published in:* newslaundry*
Date: May 23, 2026
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpBRg7WlKWE
*Note: *The interview is in English and the transcript is embedded in the
source

"What began as a tweet has snowballed into one of India?s most unexpected
political phenomena. Abhijeet Dipke, who spoke to Newslaundry from Boston,
is the unlikely founder of the Cockroach Janata Party. Within a week, this
satirical movement amassed over a million registered members and about
500,000 signatures on a petition calling for the resignation of Education
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

In an interview with Manisha Pande, Dipke recounted how it all started.
When Chief Justice Surya Kant remarked that unemployed youngsters who turn
to media, social media, and RTI activism are ?like cockroaches? who ?start
attacking everyone,? Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old Boston University
graduate, fired back with a tongue-in-cheek tweet: what if all the
cockroaches came together?

The tweet gained immediate traction, with young people rallying around the
idea of building a common platform. Dipke used AI to create a poster,
adopted the CJI?s insults as membership criteria, and attached a Google
Form that drew 5,000 sign-ups within hours. A website and five-point
manifesto followed, and within a week, membership had crossed one million.
On Instagram, the party has amassed nearly 22 million followers.

But who exactly are the cockroaches? Dipke says his following is mostly
Indian, aged 17 to 28, based in metropolitan cities, with 25 percent women.
More telling, however, is that the bulk of this following is apolitical,
i.e. people raised to focus on their exams and stay out of politics, who
trusted that hard work would be rewarded.

But the movement?s meteoric rise has come at a steep personal cost for
Dipke. His Instagram accounts have been hacked, the party?s website taken
down, and its X handle withheld in India, and he has been receiving graphic
death threats on WhatsApp. His mother urged him to step back. Most
strikingly, the Intelligence Bureau reportedly flagged the satirical party
as a ?national security threat?, a label Dipke finds ?laughable?.

When asked whether the platform could influence voting behaviour in
upcoming elections, he asked: ?Why do you think our account is being
withheld and hacked?? His immediate priority, he insists, is ensuring the
movement is not discredited, which is also why he has publicly refused to
appear on what he calls ?Godi Media? channels."


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 24 May 2026 12:52:08 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "The Indian Army Just Slashed a Colonel's
	Pension In Half. Other Veterans Got the Message"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9xAw4QGJ=emXRmN5dbX3ZBpiNzTcd2tTxnSksxuwKAgJw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Rahul Bedi
Published in*: The Wire*
Date: May 23, 2026
Source:
https://thewire.in/security/the-indian-army-just-slashed-a-colonels-pension-in-half-other-veterans-got-the-message
*Note:* Please access the source to read the entire article.

"The message has gone out that speaking too openly ? or at all, for those
whose views contradict the army establishment, the ruling party or the
government ? may carry lasting consequences.

Chandigarh: The recent halving of a retired Indian Army officer?s monthly
pension by military fiat over largely unproven charges of 'grave
misconduct' has, yet again, reinforced a growing climate of apprehension
among armed forces veterans over questioning or commenting upon enduring
service shortcomings, systems and procedures.

According to an Indian Express report on Saturday, the pensionary benefits
of retired Col Amit Kumar of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch were
reduced by 50% from April 2026 onwards by the Adjutant General?s Branch at
Army Headquarters in New Delhi. Responsible for the army?s overall
administration, the latter had cited multiple charges of post-retirement
misconduct against this officer, several of which remain under adjudication
."


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 256
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