India's 'Cockroach' party says its leaders have been detained ahead of a major protest called by the collective. Protesters are calling for India's chief election commissioner to resign.
Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and other party leaders detained on landing in Delhi
43,000 police and security personnel deployed across Delhi
Internet services suspended in central Delhi
Massive restrictions in place on metro and railway services
CJP called for a rally — that has not been authorized by police — to oppose ongoing revision of voter lists and demand resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
Here is our rolling coverage of developments from India on Saturday, October 10:
How have India's opposition politicians reacted to the Delhi protest crackdown?
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has slammed the measures taken by Indian authorities to prevent the Cockroach Janta Party's protest from going ahead.
He called out a "war-like deployment" of security personnel and said that the suspension of the internet in a key part of Delhi was among the "most regressive" and "repressive" measures.
"A government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome questions about them, whereas one that turns its capital into a fortress to avoid them only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress. The government should provide answers, not lathis (sticks); expression, not repression," Tharoor wrote on X.
He also called for the release of the protesters who had been detained.
Tharoor said India's Gen Z "deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ," in a play on words.
Leaders of the CJP on Friday likened the clampdown on their planned protest to a "state of emergency."
A state of emergency was declared in India by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the mid-70s. Emergency powers were invoked by the Congress leader for 21 months, during which civil liberties were suspended, much of the opposition was jailed and media was censored.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also mounted an emergency-related attack against Modi's government.
"This is worse than the Emergency. It's official.. we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear," he said, referring to the arrests of CJP's three main leaders.
Modi's party accuses opposition of attempts to 'incite tension'
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday accused opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal of "attempting to incite tensions" in the country.
"The Govt of India will deal strictly with the attempts you are making to incite tension, and BJP workers, remaining constantly among the people, will effectively thwart your designs," BJP President Nitin Nabin told news agencies on Saturday morning.
"Your repeated electoral defeats in various states and the resulting desperation suggest that, in some way, you do not wish to see this country move forward peacefully. However, I warn you today that the BJP and the patriotic citizens of this country will give you a fitting and stern response," he said.
Nabin suggested that "foreign forces" were behind the opposition leaders and that the protests were an attempt to "destabilize" India. BJP leaders have made similar claims before without offering proof.
"I issue a clear warning to you today: the foreign forces upon which you rely for your politics up for sale—and the alliances with such forces through which you seek to destabilize India—will never allow your nefarious intentions to succeed," he said.
More detentions reported as protesters attempt to push through security blockade
It's past noon here and Indian news channels are playing visuals of protesters trying to reach central Delhi, despite the mass preventive detentions taking place.
Several groups of young people have been seen running through the streets, trying to dodge police personnel and barricades.
News agency ANI reported, citing police sources, that more 200 people were detained in the key Connaught Place area as they tried to reach the Jantar Mantar protest site.
What to know if you're joining us now
Here's the situation right now:
The leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, which called Saturday's protest, have been detained
Police have reportedly detained more than 500 people heading toward Jantar Mantar in anticipation of demonstrations
Heavy barricades have been erected across central Delhi and along the national capital's borders to prevent protesters from entering the city
With this, it is unclear at the moment whether the planned protest will be able to take place.
But the CJP isn't the only group protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The left-wing All India Students' Association (AISA) and its breakout star, Neha Bora, have been leading protests in the capital all week.
Also on the ground are the Gandhi siblings, lawmakers Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who are leading the opposition alliance's protests against the poll body in New Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition in the lower house of the Indian parliament and possibly Prime Minister Modi's biggest challenger in the 2029 elections. According to Indian media reports, Gandhi is scheduled to attend a political meeting in the southern city of Chennai today.
Gyanesh Kumar, Modi government 'will go,' says Rahul Gandhi
India's main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday reiterated his demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar step down and critized the Modi government.
"Gyanesh Kumar will go. This government will go. Then the repair of democracy will begin," the Congress leader wrote on X as he shared a video of himself addressing INDIA bloc MPs in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Late on Friday, Gandhi and a delegation of opposition lawmakers met President Droupadi Murmu to submit a four-point memorandum.
The memorandum outlined what Gandhi called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah's "gross subversion of India's electoral system" and called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Delhi police say they've detained 500 protesters headed for 'Cockroach' march
Delhi Police said in a statement that around 500 people were detained on Saturday as they arrived for the protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party, news agency ANI reported.
"Around 500 people coming in different groups from various locations have been detained," ANI quoted the Delhi Police statement as saying.
The police added that an additional 50 people had been arrested and described them as "anti-social elements with criminal antecedents" who had been taken into custody to ensure that they "did not disturb" public order or "incite trouble."
Visuals aired by Indian news channels earlier showed police in central Delhi chasing young protesters before forcing them into vehicles and taking them away.
'Cockroach' party founder Abhijeet Dipke detained
Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has been detained by Delhi police, Indian media reported, as a preventative measure to block the planned protest against India's election chief in central Delhi.
According to reports by several media outlets, including India Today, authorities detained Dipke on board a flight after he landed in Delhi on Saturday morning. The news outlet quoted Dipke as saying, "I'm not afraid of you," while police officers urged him to cooperate.
The CJP's X handle soon released footage of the detention. "Shame on you Narendra Modi, Amit Shah," the caption read, referring to India's prime minister and home minister, respectively.
Authorities have also detained CJP's co-conveners Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, as well as the group's legal aid head, Ratna Singh.
Right before being arrested, Dipke posted a video on Instagram, showing tens of Delhi police officers lining up outside his airplane to enter. "Love you, we'll do it together, Inqalab Zindabad," one of Dipke's associate is heard saying in the video's background.
'Inqalab Zindabad', meaning 'long live the revolution,' is a famous slogan used by Indian freedom fighters during their struggle against British rule. It has regularly been used by the Cockroach party against the Modi government.
The preventative arrests are part of a major crackdown on protesters this weekend.
Most of central Delhi, where the government is headquartered, is under an internet blackout and riddled with barricades, which authorities are using to identify and stop potential protesters.
BJP calls CJP, INDIA bloc 'anarchists'
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) National President Nitin Nabin held a press conference in New Delhi, denouncing the CJP and opposition party protests over voter list irregularities as an attempt to "create a highly dangerous and serious situation in the country."
He described the INDIA bloc of opposition parties and the Cockroach movement as "two anarchic groups."
"Your 'anarchist competition,' vying to see who can create more instability in the country, will not succeed," Nabin said, accusing both groups of "a plot to destabilize the country."
"I want to say that you are undertaking these efforts, driven by your political agendas, at the behest of foreign forces," he said without elaborating on who the foreign forces were.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has been detained, reports say
Popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has been detained by the police ahead of the Jantar Mantar protest, according to the CJP and Indian media reports.
"Dhruv Rathee has been detained. The Dictator is TERRIFIED of young people who question its wrongdoings and refuse to stay silent," the CJP wrote on X, referring to Prime Minister Modi.
According to reports, Rathee was detained at his home in Gurugam. Earlier this week, the CJP officially launched Rathee as part of its "fight to save democracy" campaign.
The Germany-based YouTuber participated in a CJP protest in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Thursday.
CJP legal head Ratna Singh is also reported to have been detained at her home in New Delhi on Saturday.
India protest: Why do protesters want Gyanesh Kumar to resign?
After India's education minister, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement has Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in its crosshairs.
Here is a ten-point breakdown of the controversy surrounding the top election official:
The protests concern a contentious, nationwide voter-verification exercise — called the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — which began last year. Around 130 million names have been removed so far from electoral rolls under the process.
Kumar heads the three-member Election Commission of India (ECI) overseeing the SIR process.
Last Month, The Indian Express newspaper published a report alleging differences within the ECI over decisions related to the SIR.
According to The Indian Express, Kumar's two fellow election commissioners raised at least 14 formal objections over a 10-month period regarding voter registrations, deletions and restorations, as well as control of electoral roll data, but their concerns were allegedly not taken into consideration
The report said that in one objection, one of the commissioners complained that the ECI had acted against the written advice of two commissioners and claimed its action was "unauthorized and illegal."
The report sparked a political storm with protests calling for Kumar's resignation, for allegedly undermining the poll body’s credibility.
The ECI has maintained that all its decisions were lawful, saying that differing views were a routine part of the decision-making process.
Kumar is yet to address the allegations against him.
Opposition leaders and critics say that those removed from the voter lists include a large number of minority voters.
They accuse Modi's BJP of using the exercise as a tool to secure future electoral gains and question the ECI's independence. The ECI says the SIR removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and helps prevent the inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants."
Delhi police detain people at protest — ANI
Police have already detained some protesters who had started gathering at Jantar Mantar for the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) protest, ANI news agency reported.
On Friday the Delhi Police said that Section 163 of India's criminal procedure law had been enforced in the New Delhi area, prohibiting all forms of assembly or protest.
Meanwhile, Indian news agencies reported that police had heightened security across the capital on Saturday, with flag marches and mock drills being conducted at several locations.
Entry and exit gates at several metro stations have also been closed, according to reports.
ANI also reported that spike strips had been deployed to deter protesters from moving through certain areas.
