— ✍️ Dr. Pankaj Tambe

Abhijeet Dipke’s rise is not simply the story of a young activist becoming visible. It is the story of a generation turning humiliation into political speech.

His movement began with a provocative social-media question: “What if all cockroaches come together?” The phrase transformed an insult directed at unemployed and frustrated young people into a collective identity. From it emerged the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP—a satirical digital platform that quickly moved from memes and online commentary to protests, student mobilization and demands for political accountability.

Dipke understood something important: humiliation becomes politically powerful when those subjected to it refuse isolation. The “cockroach” was no longer a creature to be crushed. It became a symbol of endurance, survival and numerical strength. This reversal carries an unmistakable anti-caste logic. Ambedkarite politics has always insisted that oppressed people must reject identities imposed upon them and become authors of their own public meaning.

Dipke’s personal journey also matters. Born into a Dalit family in Maharashtra, he grew up in a household where education represented struggle, mobility and dignity. He studied engineering but moved toward journalism and public communication. Later, he pursued postgraduate education in the United States before returning to India and joining protests related to examination irregularities, unemployment and the crisis of accountability in public institutions.

When he arrived in Delhi carrying an image and a book associated with Dr B.R. Ambedkar, he was making a political statement. Education, for Ambedkar, was never merely a route to private success. It was a weapon against inherited inequality. When examination systems become corrupt, arbitrary or inaccessible, the injury is therefore not only administrative. It is social.

A leaked paper can destroy years of preparation. An unfair recruitment process can deepen the advantage of wealth and influence. Institutional failure transfers its heaviest cost to students whose families have borrowed money, sacrificed income and placed their hopes in education. Dipke’s movement gave public language to this private suffering.

His declaration, “You can delete our post but you cannot erase us,” captured the democratic meaning of the agitation. It expressed more than resistance to censorship. It asserted that citizens cannot be removed from public life merely because their questions make authority uncomfortable.

His other question was even more direct: “How long will we live in fear?”

Fear is one of the most effective instruments of unequal power. Students fear losing opportunities. Families fear retaliation. Workers fear dismissal. Marginalized citizens fear that protest will be interpreted as disloyalty. An Ambedkarite politics must break this relationship between citizenship and fear.

Dipke’s insistence on peaceful and democratic action was therefore significant. Anger alone does not create democracy. Anger must be converted into organized public reason, constitutional protest and accountable leadership.

His central political argument has been that India’s youth have disappeared from mainstream political discourse. Young people are frequently celebrated as demographic power, but their actual conditions—unemployment, insecure work, examination failures, educational debt and social exclusion—often remain secondary. They are treated as voters, consumers or online followers, but rarely as independent political actors.

This is where Dipke’s politics meets Ambedkar’s idea of representation. Representation is not simply the presence of a leader who claims to speak for others. It is the creation of conditions in which the excluded can speak, organize and negotiate in their own name. Dipke’s achievement has been to turn scattered disappointment into a recognizable political voice.

One of his most powerful statements came when he rejected the portrayal of protesters as threats. “I am not. I am a citizen,” he said.

That sentence should be read as a constitutional claim. A citizen is not a silent subject. Citizenship includes the right to question power, demand explanations, criticize institutions and organize collectively. Constitutional morality requires governments to respect dissent rather than criminalize it.

Dipke also displayed political instinct when blue ink was thrown at him and he responded: “Blue is my colour. Jai Bhim!” Blue, within Ambedkarite politics, represents dignity, equality and resistance to caste humiliation. What was intended as an insult was converted into affirmation.

Yet symbols alone do not make a leader Ambedkarite. Carrying Ambedkar’s image, invoking “Jai Bhim” or using the colour blue must be matched by serious anti-caste practice. An Ambedkarite movement must create space for Dalits, Adivasis, women, OBCs, minorities, queer people and economically marginalized students to lead—not merely appear in crowds.

Dipke’s most democratic statement may therefore be: “Don’t make me a hero.”

Ambedkar warned that hero worship is dangerous in politics because it encourages citizens to surrender judgment. A democratic leader does not create followers dependent upon his personality. He creates citizens capable of independent action.

The real test of Dipke’s rise will come after the applause. Can a viral movement build transparent institutions? Can it tolerate criticism? Can it develop democratic internal structures? Can it move from protest to policy, from visibility to organization and from symbolism to social transformation?

Dipke has shown that he can convert anger into attention. His future importance will depend on whether he can convert attention into collective power.

An Ambedkarite does not lead people toward another saviour.

An Ambedkarite leads people toward their own political voice.

- Dr. Pankaj Tambe is an Ambedkarite thinker, writer, and researcher based in Nagpur, Maharashtra. His work focuses on the thought of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, social justice, equality, democracy, constitutional values, and the struggle against caste discrimination. Through his writings, he promotes Ambedkarite philosophy and encourages critical thinking, education, and social transformation.