India's youth-led Cockroach movement launched more nationwide protests on Friday as thousands gathered in Mumbai, amid concerns that millions of citizens are being stripped of their vote. The movement, which calls itself the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), demands the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Allegations over electoral register revisions
Kumar has become a contentious figure after a report in the Indian Express newspaper alleged irregularities and internal concerns about a process to revise and “purify” India's electoral register, called the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). SIR, overseen by Kumar, has resulted in tens of millions of people being deleted from the register, with many challenging their removal.
Opposition politicians and civil society groups have alleged SIR is part of widespread manipulation of India's electoral system to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The CJP began as online satire but grew into a powerful youth movement and an unexpected challenge to the Narendra Modi government. Protests in Delhi lasted weeks, and the education minister was pressured into resigning in July. The group then declared it would remain active as a “pressure group” to hold the government to account on education and democracy.
Protests spread across cities
Last week, after the revelations about the election commission, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced that if Kumar did not resign, the “Cockroaches” would resume their agitation until he stepped down. Dipke said the Mumbai protest would kick off a nationwide movement, with more protests planned in Delhi, Goa, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
The authorities denied permission for the group to hold their protest at Mumbai's Shivaji Park, but Dipke vowed to go ahead regardless. “We are fighting against those in power,” he said at a press conference. “We all remember Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against the Britishers. Did the British ever permit him to agitate?”
Youth voices and police response
Hundreds assembled in Mumbai on Friday afternoon amid a heavy police presence, including many young people who said they were fighting for India's democracy. “Voting is the most basic right of any citizen, but because of the actions of Kumar and the election commission, that right is under attack,” said Deesha, 22, a student activist. “So many millions of people have lost their votes and aren't even recognised as citizens of India any more. This attack on our democracy must stop. The first important step is to get Gyanesh Kumar to resign, and then SIR must be reversed.”
Janvi Upadhyay, 18, said the Cockroach movement had awoken the young people of India “and if they think they can just come and take away votes and cheat the elections, we will show them just how wrong they are”. “We already forced the education minister to resign. Gyanesh Kumar should be very worried right now because he is definitely next,” she added.
The election commission has denied wrongdoing in SIR, but in a move aimed at easing tensions, officials were directed to expedite the process to register newly eligible voters and those who claimed to have been wrongly omitted from electoral rolls.
Delhi protests and detentions
Anger at Kumar and the election commission also erupted in Delhi on Friday, even as police took measures to stop people from protesting. Thousands of police were deployed to the Jantar Mantar protest site in Delhi, a dozen metro stations in the surrounding area were closed, and an internet shutdown was imposed. Hundreds of those who turned out were immediately forced into police buses. The mass detentions of at least 700 people, including civil society leaders and opposition politicians, prompted outrage, with protesters leaning out of bus windows to accuse police of depriving them of their fundamental democratic rights.
Opposition parties said they would also start a nationwide protest movement to demand Kumar's resignation. All opposition lawmakers plan to march to the election commission office in Delhi next week.
