NEW DELHI: Indian police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke on Friday ahead of fresh protests demanding the removal of the country’s election chief, the youth-led movement said on social media.
Dipke, 31, was detained shortly before a rally organised by the online movement in central New Delhi, where hundreds of protesters marched on Friday evening despite heavy security measures.
The CJP founder had urged supporters to gather at Connaught Place, a busy commercial hub in the capital, carrying Indian flags in a show of solidarity after two of his colleagues were detained earlier this week for breaching security barricades at Jantar Mantar, a protest site declared off-limits by police.
“Abhijeet is detained by Delhi Police!!! This government is so scared of the youth waving national flag!!,” the CJP said on social media. Footage of his detention was also broadcast live on local television channels.
Police did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on the reasons for Dipke’s detention.
The CJP and opposition parties have been seeking the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner over a large-scale revision of voter rolls that they say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.
The Election Commission of India, which oversees voting in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing.
Thousands of security personnel were deployed in central Delhi on Friday, with police warning protesters to stay away, citing orders restricting public gatherings.
However, hundreds of young protesters defied the restrictions and marched near Connaught Place’s Central Park, many waving flags in a show of defiance.
Student activist Neha Bora was also detained and taken away in a police bus while leading a march near Central Park on Friday, AFP journalists witnessed.
Vishwajeet Pratap Singh, 18, said he had joined the protest against what he described as a “targeted drive” to remove voters unlikely to support Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the electoral rolls.
“If I don’t speak today, no one will speak for me later,” he told AFP.
‘Creating anarchy’
The Indian capital has seen several street protests over the past week against the revision of electoral rolls, overseen by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
More than 133 million names have been removed from electoral lists under the exercise, according to figures reported by Indian media and cited by opposition parties in court filings.
Critics say the removals have disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims.
BJP members have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.
Election authorities say the exercise was intended to eliminate duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries.
On Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the accusations, saying the opposition parties’ agenda was “to destroy democratic institutions and create unrest in the country”.
“Their fight is not for electoral reform… not for Gyanesh Kumar, not for the bright future of the country’s youth,” he said at a news conference.
“Rather, this is their conspiracy to seize power by creating anarchy in the country.”
The “cockroach” movement has gained millions of followers on social media since Dipke launched it in May.
Protests organised by the CJP in July over examination irregularities forced the education minister to resign, marking a rare climbdown by Modi’s administration.
Political commentator Ajoy Bose said the government was caught between a “rock and a hard place” as it sought to prevent a repeat of the massive CJP protests in July.
“There’s a general public perception that the elections have been compromised,” he told AFP.
“Then there is a huge, restless, educated middle class, which are the new have-nots, in the sense that they don’t see much future. So, I think the government is very worried about that section turning against them.”