India: Protests Against Election Commissioner Spread, New Delhi Tense

New Delhi, India — Leading opposition figure Rahul Gandhi has returned to the central streets of New Delhi, leading dozens of MPs in demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, as protests escalate.

Gandhi, heir to India's most influential political dynasty, is seeking to turn a summer youth uprising into a broader challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decade-long dominance, piling growing pressure on the Hindu nationalist government.

At a press conference on Monday, Gandhi said Modi's government had put the capital "in jail."

The youth-led "Cockroach" movement — which forced the Education Minister to resign in July — has also threatened to protest on Tuesday if it is not allowed to gather at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, the epicenter of the summer protests.

Joining Gandhi's Congress party, other opposition forces and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were thousands of students from left-wing organizations. As the government prepares to counter further protests, security forces have arrested thousands of students each day, with allegations of violence in detention casting a climate of fear over the capital.

"No Constraints on Modi"

India's Election Commission — the body considered autonomous, tasked with overseeing the world's largest electorate — has come under criticism after revelations that its chief, Gyanesh Kumar, frequently dismissed concerns raised by the two other election commissioners about the integrity of changes to the voter database.

For months, India's opposition parties have argued that the election commission has been manipulated, undermining elections at the behest of Modi's Hindu-majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for electoral gain. The BJP denies the allegations.

Since June last year, the commission has revised and updated voter rolls nationwide. More than 130 million names have since been removed, which critics say has disproportionately stripped minorities and other vulnerable groups of their right to vote.

Gandhi has called for the Chief Election Commissioner to be tried for treason. "We will not spare him," he said, referring to Kumar, at Monday's press conference.

Opposition politicians allege that protest marches by leaders including Gandhi have been met with brutal force, as seen in videos of their arrests.

"[The protesters] came with love in their hearts, not hatred or anger," Gandhi said, referring to Saturday's protest. "They were beaten, by both police and BJP henchmen."

"Narendra Modi … cannot silence India's voice. These cowards cannot intimidate us. They will have to step aside," he wrote on X, calling on people from all walks of life to join Monday's protest.

Analysts say the current situation differs markedly from the summer protests, when demonstrators led by the CJP demanded the resignation of then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Asim Ali, a political analyst in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that the broader opposition mobilization will not stop, but Modi's government is unlikely to concede.

"This crackdown targeting students shows it will be harder for young protesters, and students cannot be beaten and dragged violently every day," he said. "Going forward, opposition parties will be the face at the forefront of the protests, and they need to lead from the front."

Since 1975, when then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a national emergency suspending civil liberties, "India has seen civil politics evolve into the mainstream, where opposition parties were given space," Ali said.

He added that five decades later, "those democratic achievements have disappeared – and there are no constraints on this government by independent institutions."

Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst, said he had seen New Delhi serve as the hub of "many large opposition political marches, held in areas near parliament, with hundreds of thousands of people," when police did not intervene, unlike this year's crackdowns.

Kidwai said the violent arrests of MPs were particularly alarming.

"We are seeing a major shift from when politicians were more tolerant of dissent," he added.

Cat-and-Mouse Chases

With unprecedented security deployments in central New Delhi to prevent protests, young leaders are turning to new tactics.

Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), a left-wing group affiliated with the Communist Party of India, routinely outsmarts Delhi police to stage protests.

Bora, a postdoctoral researcher in theater, became nationally known for her fiery speeches at the July protests, emerging as a leading face of the Gen Z movement challenging Modi's Hindu nationalist politics.

Aditi Thakur, a 23-year-old student in the capital, has turned on notifications for all of Bora's social media posts. "The call to protest can come at any time, anywhere," she told Al Jazeera.

Bora does not reveal when or where she will hold a protest until 30 minutes beforehand, to avoid being arrested by police. Her supporters are notified via social media to gather at a certain location in the capital.

On Sunday, she chose a crowded street near central Delhi — and managed to jump over multiple barricades to reach heavily guarded Parliament Street, before being chased and dragged into a police vehicle.

Even Thakur could not keep up with her, she told Al Jazeera, laughing. "This is a guerrilla era, but a peaceful one. If the government cracks down on us, we also need to adapt," she said. "It's a fun game of cat and mouse every day. I'm hooked."

Gandhi's Congress party is also adopting a similar approach, holding flash marches at unannounced locations, then fleeing police.

A Changing Mood

A striking feature of the July protests — the turning point for winning concessions from the government — was Gen Z's humor in the face of police brutality.

Now, protesters are bracing for a more serious confrontation, even as the demonstrations remain peaceful, according to analysts.

"We are seeing that humor turn into more anger this time," Asim Ali said.

The biggest challenge for the government is disruption in central New Delhi, which Ali said the government cannot allow daily. The area is home to most federal government offices, as well as a major commercial hub.

Protesters know that too, and it gives them leverage.

"We are seeing this movement grow into a larger anti-government, anti-Modi movement," Ali said.