India protests: Cockroach movement says members arrested
Theo Al Jazeera English
India's Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) says authorities have arrested at least 10,000 people as protests demanding the election commissioner's resignation continue. The movement, backed by opposition parties and student groups, is planning a major march to New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Saturday.
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) movement in India says authorities have arrested multiple members as thousands of supporters and student organizations continue protesting to demand the resignation of the country's election commissioner.
Thursday's marches came ahead of an anti-government rally led by the CJP and scheduled for Saturday, when thousands are expected to march to Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in the capital, New Delhi.
Ashutosh Ranka, a spokesperson for the movement, wrote on X on Thursday that "at least 10,000" people from CJP protests, student organizations, affiliated grassroots groups and political parties had been arrested across the country.
Among those detained was CJP national spokesperson Deepak Baliyan, held by police on Thursday, according to the group. Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the claims, but video posted on X showed activists being taken away in trucks.
Opposition parties and students linked to the CJP have demanded the resignation of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following a controversial revision of the voter rolls. They accuse the body he heads of giving an advantage to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Thursday, the CJP said a group of students from the city of Pune traveling to New Delhi to join the protest at Jantar Mantar had also been detained and put on buses to an unknown location. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke commented on social media: "Why not just declare a state of emergency?"
'Every vote matters'
India's Election Commission has so far removed more than 130 million names from the voter rolls, while millions are contesting the changes. About 969 million people were eligible to vote in the 2024 election.
Protesters accuse the changes of disproportionately removing voters who support opposition parties while retaining or adding voters likely to back Modi's party. The commission and the government deny this, saying the revisions are not politically motivated but aimed at removing duplicates and ineligible entries and ensuring legitimate voters remain registered.
Earlier the same day, thousands of supporters of the youth-led CJP protested in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Many carried banners reading: "Every name matters, every vote matters" and "Stop killing democracy."
Khushi Shrivastava, a 22-year-old architecture student at the protest, told Reuters: "I think the right to vote is the most fundamental point of democracy... People who really want to vote, who care about India's future, are being disenfranchised."
On Wednesday, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was detained for the third time in two days, as the Congress party accused police of using "brute force." Police said the allegations were intended to "malign" them, while BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia called the accusations "irresponsible, chaotic claims made by the opposition."
