IT Ministry asks CJP’s Dipke to be present for hearing on X account ban

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Cockroach Janta Party Founder Abhijit Dipke during third day of protest against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked Abhijeet Dipke to be physically present for a hearing on the union government’s blocking of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) account on X, formerly Twitter, a CJP source told The Hindu. The summoning comes even as Mr. Dipke has refused to leave Jantar Mantar, where he has been leading a protest calling for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation since Saturday (June 20, 2026) .

The hearing is set to take place before an Inter-Ministerial Committee, and is pursuant to an administrative appeal Mr. Dipke filed against the blocking. The hearing comes a month after the initial blocking of the X handle, on May 21. It is unclear why the government blocked the handle — Mr. Dipke had quickly set up a second handle, whose follower count has exceeded that of the initial one; this handle has not been restricted. The government also left the group’s Instagram handle, which has over 2 crore followers, untouched.

While Mr. Dipke is leading the protest with diminished crowds following the police’s steps to evacuate the area, he called on more groups to join the demonstrations. On Monday (June 22, 2026), he called for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and State Service Commission (SSC)-administered exam aspirants to arrive and air their grievances.