INDIAN activist Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the online "cockroach" movement, has emerged as the face of dissent in the country, challenging the powerful Election Commission months after forcing a major government climbdown.
The 31-year-old, an unlikely protest leader who shot into the national spotlight in May after a viral social media post, was detained on Saturday by police in New Delhi, where he was meant to lead a rally.
Dipke's satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has tens of millions of followers online, is calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar — echoing demands by opposition parties and other critics following alleged misconduct in a large-scale revision of voter rolls.
Two other prominent "cockroach" leaders were detained along with Dipke before they could disembark from their flight into Delhi for the protest.
"This is dictatorship," said Dipke in a video on social media before being taken away by police.
"We are not afraid of you. Go ahead and arrest us. Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!"
The dramatic turn of events is the latest chapter for a movement that has repeatedly tested the government and drawn thousands of young supporters to the streets.
The movement was born in reaction to an off-the-cuff comment made by Chief Justice Surya Kant, likening young people who criticised the government to "cockroaches" and "parasites".
Dipke, a Boston University graduate, posted on X: "What if all cockroaches come together?"
The response was immediate, with thousands signing up within hours, growing to tens of thousands within the first day.
Dipke said he was "taken aback" by Kant's remarks.
"How can the custodian of the constitution compare the youth with cockroaches and parasites, just for expressing their opinions and criticising the system?" he said in an interview in July.
The movement's social media reach quickly exploded, fuelled largely by Gen Z supporters angered by unemployment, examination scandals and what they see as compromised institutions.
The "cockroach" tag, supporters say, became a symbol of a generation that felt unheard and dismissed by those in power.
A former communications strategist for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, Dipke has been careful to present himself less as a conventional politician than as a mobiliser of public anger.
Usually dressed in jeans and T-shirts, Dipke is adept at the language of social media, mixing activism, satire and street mobilisation.
The CJP now has more than 25 million followers on its Instagram account, eclipsing the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by over 15 million.
Even as the movement gained traction, Dipke has repeatedly said he had no plans to convert it into a traditional political party.
"There is no point in making it a political party when the elections are fixed and the results are already pre-decided," he has said.
Yet, the movement's impact has stretched beyond social media, and demonstrations led by it forced the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July over alleged irregularities in India's medical entrance examinations.
It marked a rare climbdown for Modi, who has carefully cultivated an image of unwavering resolve since storming into power in 2014.
Now, Dipke and other government critics have shifted their focus to the Election Commission of India, in a campaign centring on allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision.
Opposition groups say the revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
With New Delhi under strict security measures ahead of Saturday's rally, Dipke said "Modi has accepted defeat even before our protest has begun".
"The mass crackdown on protesters and the shutdown of Delhi are not signs of strength, but of a leader terrified of his own people."
* The writer is from AFP
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