Hundreds of protesters have been detained in Delhi during the latest demonstration by the Gen-Z led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over electoral reforms.
The group said its founder Abhijeet Dipke, who began the movement in May after India’s Chief Justice likened some jobless young people to “cockroaches”, was detained with other leaders shortly after landing in Delhi.
Tens of thousands of security personnel were deployed and roads barricaded ahead of the demonstration, though the CJP insisted it would go ahead.
Delhi Police has not commented on the detentions, but had refused permission for the protest to take place at Jantar Mantar, a landmark in the Indian capital.
The group – who are not registered as a political party in India – are seeking electoral reforms just months before crucial state elections.
It has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists – which the Election Commission has denied.
Under Kumar’s leadership, India’s election commission has undertaken a mammoth exercise to update electoral rolls nationwide – it said this was a routine exercise to weed out dead, duplicate or ineligible voters.
But in many states, the exercise has been shrouded in controversy, with tens of thousands of people alleging they have been wrongly removed.
The CJP – and opposition parties – accuse Kumar of favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the way the electoral rolls are being updated.
The Election Commission and the BJP have denied this.
Before arriving in Delhi, the CJP’s founder Dipke said: “If you think you can stop us by threatening us with jail or trying to intimidate us with the fear of imprisonment, you are mistaken.”
He and and two other leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were detained on their flight from Mumbai on Saturday.
The group claimed the three men have been taken to an undisclosed location. Delhi Police have not commented.
Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s new designated leader while the others are in detention, released a video telling protesters that “if Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar”.
Student activist Neha Bora, who had also been detained by Delhi Police, urged demonstrators to “hold the line”.
The large number of protesters expected to descend on Delhi were unable to get anywhere close to Jantar Mantar due to the heavy security presence and road blocks.
Announcements could be heard across the city, asking people to co-operate with the police.
One protester, Sabika Muzaffar, told the BBC she and her mother expected to be detained.
“On the way to the protest site, instead of reciting hymns and verses as we usually do, my mother and I were rote learning our lawyer’s number,” she said.
She said that showing up to protest was “her way of defending the country and its democracy”.
A few minutes after Muzaffar spoke to the BBC she was taken away by police.
Several trains to and from major Delhi stations had been cancelled and dozens of metro stations were closed from Friday night.
Buses packed with detained protesters were seen being driven away from the protest site.
The CJP first emerged as a major protest movement during weeks of demonstrations over the summer demanding education reforms and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The group stemmed from a joke made by Dipke in response to a remark by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to “cockroaches”. He later said the comments were misinterpreted.
Dipke, who previously worked with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had just completed a master’s degree at Boston University when he posted a question on X in May: “What if all cockroaches come together?”
The post went viral, and the CJP was born. Momentum built around the movement which tapped into anger over over unemployment, exam paper leaks and government accountability.
In July, Dipke watched from the stage as the five-week-long protest ended in celebration after the resignation of India’s education minister.
By BBC News
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