NEW DELHI, India, October 16, 2026 — Can an opposition political movement become embroiled in an international intrigue related to alleged foreign funding? This is the question that arose in India following the allegation made by American singer Mary Millben regarding the financing of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and its founder Abhijeet Dipke by determined donors in America seeking to undermine Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. The allegation led to attention on political dissent, external influence, and transparency in financing.
On October 14, Millben issued a statement on X that pointed to the involvement of American organizations in the financing of the party as part of efforts to weaken conservative leaders abroad. According to her words, United States-based donors seized political leaders, recruited people educated in the United States, and financed their operations.
“these select donors have a pattern globally – target conservative global leaders, find an U.S. educated person from the country, radicalize them, send them back to the country, and fund them to start chaos and destruction. None of them have been successful but have impacted the development and governance of the country,” she tweeted.
From online satire to street demonstrations
The background of the controversy has been marked by protests calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for his alleged involvement in the case of violations regarding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The CJP came out of an online satire project initiated by Dipke that referred to unemployed youth as “cockroaches” which found resonance with people’s frustration regarding finding jobs and getting an education. Later, the project became a movement that gained popularity in the streets.
On October 10, 2026, authorities detained Dipke and several CJP leaders in New Delhi prior to the scheduled protests. Reuters reported that they later released them after they promised not to disturb the restoration of public peace. The issue of violation of the electoral roll revision is different from the question of the project’s foreign aid.
Allegation against evidence that can be verified
Dipke disputed the claims made by Millben concerning the finances. He also pointed out that his education in the US was funded through several scholarships and loans. Nevertheless, this explanation does not reveal the sources of funding for the movement.
Many had requested Millben in her twitter post to name the individuals funding the CJP. She recently responded to the requests and alleged that George Soros was behind the funding.
“It’s the same person or same group of people, certainly coming from America that’s funding a lot of these protests across the world, particularly when you have a conservative leader at the top of the ticket or running the government. The name is George Soros and that whole machine of people are constantly funding a lot of these protests and chaos that’s breaking out across the world,” she said.
