Revered Hindu deity denigrated, sacred religious customs mocked by Cockroach Janata Party protester at Jantar Mantar, Delhi
New Delhi, Delhi, India 
21 July, 2026
Case Summary
At Jantar Mantar, Delhi, anti-Hindu hate was openly displayed when a Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protester mocked Hindu customs and made derogatory remarks against Lord Ram during a protest. According to the information available, the incident occurred during a Cockroach Janata Party protest at Jantar Mantar. While interacting with the media, a female protester initially criticised the government's policies. During the same interaction, she went on to mock Hindu religious practices, saying that she did not have "so much time to waste" that she would spend four hours ringing a bell and performing puja. She then made derogatory remarks against Lord Ram, stating that the government claimed "Ram runs the country" before saying, "I'm sorry to say, but Ram is dead. It's been a long time since he's gone, and he is not running the country. The government is." She concluded by targeting the government, saying that if people could bring it to power, they could also remove it from power. A video of her remarks went viral on social media, triggering widespread outrage among Hindus. Several Hindu users condemned the derogatory comments about Lord Ram and the mockery of Hindu customs, stating that such remarks against Hindu deities and religious practices were unacceptable and should be dealt with strictly. Notably, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) emerged in mid-May 2026 as a satirical, youth-led online movement that rapidly transformed into a mass mobilisation platform for students and unemployed graduates through social media engagement. It was founded by Abhijeet Dipke, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who repurposed a controversial public remark comparing unemployed youth to "cockroaches" as a symbol of collective identity and protest. While Dipke initially portrayed the CJP movement as a genuine, non-partisan, and constitutionally aligned initiative demanding educational reforms, accountability for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper leak, and the resignation of officials, including the Union Education Minister, the movement soon diverged from its stated objectives. Rather than remaining focused on systemic reforms, it evolved into an ideologically driven campaign characterised by anti-Hindu rhetoric. Its co-founders and participants made derogatory remarks about Hindu deities and religious slogans such as "Jai Shri Ram", abused the Hindu community, raised overtly pro-Islamic slogans such as "Naam rahega Allah ka", "Naara-e-Taqbeer, Allahu Akbar", and increasingly directed their hostility towards Hindu organisations, activists, and the government, which they described as a "Hindutva-led government". By the time it culminated in its first major street-level protest at Jantar Mantar on 6 June 2026, the movement had shifted from a purported students' rights campaign into an overtly anti-Hindu platform. On 6 June 2026, Dipke flew in from the United States to lead the movement's first major street-level protest at Jantar Mantar. AAP-aligned figures attended the event under the guise of being neutral, anti-establishment voices. However, contrary to its stated claim of being a student advocacy movement focused on systemic failures, the CJP's conduct at Jantar Mantar told a starkly different story.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is: Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory selected is: Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. This incident stands as a clear example of religiously motivated hate speech because the perpetrator openly denigrated Lord Ram, a deeply revered Hindu deity, while simultaneously mocking fundamental Hindu customs of worship, including puja and ritual practices. To fully grasp the gravity of these statements, it is necessary to understand the profound religious and cultural significance of Lord Ram and daily Hindu worship. Within Hinduism, Lord Ram is not merely a historical figure or a political concept; he is worshipped as the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu, representing dharma (righteousness), ideal ethics, and supreme divinity. Millions of devotees structure their moral and spiritual lives around his teachings. Similarly, sacred practices such as performing puja, offering prayers, and ringing the ghanti (sacred bell) hold immense spiritual value. The ringing of the bell is traditionally believed to produce sacred vibrations that disperse negative energy, heighten consciousness, and invite divine presence. Puja is an essential act of devotion through which practitioners cultivate humility, discipline, and communion with the divine. These customs are central to the daily lived experience and spiritual identity of the Hindu community. Therefore, the perpetrator’s targeted remarks about Lord Ram, specifically stating that "Ram is dead" and mocking the idea of his divine presence, amount to a severe denigration of a sacred figure and directly constitute hate speech. Declaring that a venerated deity is "dead" in a public, recorded setting acts as a deliberate provocation aimed at insulting the core beliefs of millions of believers. This statement actively seeks to demean the divine status of Lord Ram, reducing a deeply held theological belief to a subject of public ridicule. Such objectionable remarks cause deep emotional and psychological distress to Hindus, directly hurting their religious sentiments by attacking an entity that commands their highest reverence. Similarly, publicly describing puja and ritual worship as "wasting time" represents a direct mockery of Hindu sacred customs. By asserting that she did not have "so much time to waste" to spend hours ringing a bell and worshipping, the perpetrator did not simply express a personal preference regarding how she spends her time; she publicly trivialised and devalued sacred Hindu traditions that have been preserved and practised for millennia. Denigrating core rituals as useless or wasteful demonstrates explicit hostility toward Hindu religious identity, attempting to frame sacred devotion as absurd or irrational before a public audience. This deliberate choice of words highlights a clear distinction between political commentary and religiously motivated hate. If the perpetrator genuinely sought only to express grievance over administrative performance or social issues, she could have easily limited her criticism to the government, its elected officials, or its specific policies. Instead, she chose to weaponise religious symbols, denigrate Lord Ram, and mock puja. Bypassing political figures to directly attack a religious deity and its followers' devotional habits crosses the boundaries of protected political discourse and enters the realm of religiously driven hate speech specifically designed to offend, humiliate, and hurt Hindu sentiments. The context in which these remarks were made further demonstrated the targeted nature of the offence. The incident occurred during a Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest that was initially presented as a movement concerning students' rights and educational reforms. However, the protest platform became a setting where repeated anti-Hindu remarks, derogatory statements, and attacks on Hindu religious symbols were expressed. This demonstrated that the mocking of Lord Ram and Hindu customs was not an isolated occurrence or merely an individual remark detached from its surroundings, but part of a broader pattern of hostility directed towards Hindu religious identity. The use of a public protest platform to ridicule the Hindu faith, its deities and customs reflected a recurring pattern of targeting Hindu beliefs and symbols, making the incident a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus. Given that this case meets the parameters of a hate-driven offence, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred rather than when it was reported by the media. However, in this case, media reports did not specify the exact date of the incident. Therefore, 22 July 2026, the date on which the video went viral on social media, has been selected as the indicative incident date. This date has been recorded for documentation purposes only.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
