NEW DELHI – Indian authorities have detained hundreds of youth demonstrators and top leaders of the Gen-Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) after deploying tens of thousands of security personnel across the city to suppress nationwide protests demanding electoral roll reforms, BBC reported.
CJP confirmed that its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, alongside key leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were taken into custody directly from their aircraft shortly after landing at Delhi Airport from Mumbai on Saturday.
The group claimed the three men have been taken to an undisclosed location.
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.
Delhi Police barricaded primary arterial roads, suspended dozens of metro station operations, and canceled several long-distance train services into the capital after refusing to grant permission for the demonstration.
The youth movement, which emerged earlier this year over education issues, is demanding systemic electoral roll revisions.
“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,” CJP founder Dipke stated prior to his arrival in Delhi.
Despite widespread security blockades, CJP interim leader, Ajinkya Shinde released a public statement urging supporters to gather across designated checkpoints and convert police barricades into active protest points.
Multiple buses carrying hundreds of detained youth activists were seen leaving the capital throughout the day as municipal authorities urged public cooperation amid heavy security patrols.
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.
CJP 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.
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.
However, the Election Commission and the BJP have denied this.-MalayaDailyToday
