India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led movement that has evolved from satire into a political force among Generation Z voters, alleged that authorities have conducted mass detentions of its members and affiliated activists in the days preceding a major demonstration planned for Saturday. The party’s spokesperson stated that at least 10,000 people associated with the CJP, student organizations, grassroots groups, and opposition political parties had been detained across the country. Videos shared on social media depicted activists being removed in vehicles, though police authorities have not yet responded to requests for comment.
The planned protest in Delhi is centered on demands for the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following a controversial revision of voter rolls. The nationwide review, called the special intensive revision, has resulted in more than 130 million names being removed from electoral lists across most Indian states and federally administered territories. Millions of affected citizens have filed appeals challenging their removal from the rolls.
Opposition parties contend that the deletions disproportionately target their supporters while preserving or adding names of voters more likely to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. The election commission and government maintain that the revision aims to eliminate duplicate and ineligible entries. The CJP, which began as an online youth campaign earlier this year, has organized street protests throughout the country and recently forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister over exam paper leaks.
Thousands are expected to gather at Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital, amid growing discontent in the world’s largest democracy. Concurrent demonstrations took place in other cities, with hundreds of CJP supporters protesting in Bengaluru on Thursday. Police have erected barricades in Delhi ahead of the weekend demonstration. The opposition Congress party separately accused authorities of using excessive force against party leaders attempting to reach the protest site, allegations the Delhi Police denied.
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