Police release Cockroach Party leader in India after arrest for calling for protest

The founder of the Cockroach People's Party (CJP, in its original acronym), a generation Z movement in India, was released this Saturday (17), one day after being detained for trying to lead another demonstration in the capital New Delhi to demand the resignation of the Indian electoral authority.

Abhijeet Dipke stood out for leading protests that lasted weeks and culminated in the resignation of Education Minister, Dharmenda Pradhan, in July this year. Now, activists from the CJP, opposition parties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and student organizations are calling for the departure of Gyanesh Kumar, head of the Election Commission, in almost daily acts.

The body is accused of favoring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, acronym in English for Indian People's Party), Modi's party, in the review of registrations that excluded more than 130 million voters.

The Electoral Commission denies any favoritism and states that anyone who was unduly excluded can re-register. Authorities say the review was intended to eliminate fraudulent, duplicate and deceased records, but critics point out that minorities, especially Muslims, were disproportionately affected.

The BJP accuses opponents of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes. Members of the party claim that a large number of undocumented Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh were fraudulently included on India's electoral rolls.

Dipke was leaving a house in the center of the Indian capital on Friday (16) when he was dragged by police officers into a vehicle and detained. He had called for a protest at Connaught Place, near Jantar Mantar, the site of demonstrations whose use was banned by the police, in support of Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, leaders of the movement arrested on Wednesday (14).

Earlier on Friday, police had met with the leader of the Cockroach People's Party and warned him not to go ahead with the act. Dipke was released after agreeing to certain conditions, said Ratna Singh, head of the CJP's legal department, without elaborating on the terms of the deal. Student groups called for new acts this Saturday.

Student activist Neha Bora, detained on Friday (16) when trying to reach the center of New Delhi with dozens of supporters, was also released this Saturday.

"Please give relief to the people of India. Remove Gyanesh Kumar and suspend the special intensive review, so that the ordinary citizens of this country can breathe a sigh of relief, rest assured and have their right to vote guaranteed," Bora told news agency ANI (Asian News International).