India’s government went to remarkable lengths on Saturday to stop a single rally. Metro stations in New Delhi were shuttered, mobile data was cut in parts of the capital, trains were cancelled and tens of thousands of officers, including paramilitary units, sealed off Jantar Mantar, the city’s officially designated protest ground. Indian outlets reported that around 3,500 people were taken into custody before the day was out.
The target was the Cockroach Janta Party, a tongue-in-cheek youth movement born online in May. It first made headlines with sit-ins and fasts against leaked exam papers, a campaign that cost the education minister his job in July. Its new cause is the electoral roll. So far the Election Commission’s clean-up of the rolls has deleted upwards of 130 million entries. Protesters want the official in charge, Gyanesh Kumar, out of office. Opposition parties say the purge falls hardest on their supporters; the commission insists it is simply removing duplicates and ineligible voters.
Organisers never reached the stage. Founder Abhijeet Dipke and two colleagues were led off their flight from Mumbai moments after it touched down, with Dipke filmed telling officers he was “not afraid”. Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, activist Yogendra Yadav and the popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee were also detained, alongside journalists and lawyers. Police said the rally had been refused because the application came in late.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP waved the protesters away as “anarchic elements”. Amnesty International urged that everyone held simply for turning up to protest be freed at once.
No national vote is due until 2029, but the unrest lands at an awkward moment for Modi, with BJP strongholds Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat heading to the polls in 2027.
