India’s capital, New Delhi, was bracing for a second day of protests after thousands of people, including leaders of the “cockroach” youth movement and opposition politicians, were detained in a major crackdown on demonstrators.
Abhijeet Dipke, leader of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “bully” shortly after he was released on Sunday. Thousands of other protesters, some of them members of left-wing student groups, were also released that day after the Supreme Court described their detention as “illegal”.
Security clampdown ahead of the Jantar Mantar protests
Before Saturday’s protests, authorities turned New Delhi into what one report described as a fortress. More than 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city, according to local media. Trains and metros were suspended, markets and major roads were blocked, and mobile internet services were cut in several areas to limit online mobilisation by the CJP and other youth groups.
The aim, officials indicated, was to stop demonstrators from reaching Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site close to the parliament. The site was sealed off. Security forces also set up checkpoints on main roads and entry points across the city of 20 million people, searched buses and inspected vehicles for protesters. Barricades and concrete blocks disrupted traffic, while anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear-gas launchers guarded key routes.
The area has a recent history with the movement. Jantar Mantar was also the site of a July protest, led by the CJP, that led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmesh Pradhan. That demonstration was triggered by a string of exam paper leaks.
Detained leaders, politicians and journalists
Police detained Dipke, along with his associates Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, after they arrived in New Delhi from Mumbai on a flight. Dipke posted a video showing police officers boarding the Air India plane after it landed. As they approached, he said: “I have come to get arrested. I am not afraid of you guys.” In another video, he said: “This is dictatorship.”
Delhi police also detained YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), a leftist group. Several opposition politicians and former chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan, were also detained, according to television channels. Some 600 people were arrested in Mumbai as well, according to the ANI news agency.
Several journalists were detained while covering the protests. They were later released, but one news organisation said some of its reporters’ media equipment was seized during the detention. Police officials said on Sunday that all detainees had been released, on the condition that there would be “no breach of peace” for a year.
Protesters vow to continue as the government pushes back
At a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday, Saurav Das, the group’s co-convenor, accused police of “arriving like mafia dons” and “abducting” them on their plane. After his release, Rathee said he had been “KIDNAPPED.”
Youth leaders have pledged to keep protesting. In a post on X, Das said that the government had turned Delhi into a fortress and that “Gyanesh Kumar is at the very heart of this government’s survival.” He added: “We are not backing down. We are returning with full strength!” The CJP also announced protests in other cities, including Mumbai, for Sunday evening. Bora began a protest in central Delhi that afternoon but was detained shortly afterwards.
The INDIA bloc, an opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress, has joined the youth-led protests and is demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The bloc is expected to hold a protest in the capital on Monday. Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X that the government had turned the “Mother of Democracy” into a “Muzzled Democracy.”
The voter list dispute behind the demonstrations
The protesters want Kumar to resign over a revision of voter lists that they say disproportionately benefits Prime Minister Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Millions of voters, including Muslims, have been removed from the rolls in a process marred by technical errors and a perceived lack of transparency.
The protests escalated after a newspaper investigation reported that two election commissioners had objected to many of Kumar’s decisions. India’s Election Commission is a constitutional body with three members, and decisions are taken by majority. The investigation said Kumar’s revisions removed roughly 130 million names from voter lists.
The BJP says that of the 130 million names deleted, 28 million belong to dead people, 63 million have relocated, 10 million are duplicates and 30 million could not be traced by officials. The party has also said its electoral success reflects Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth, and accuses opposition parties of spreading misinformation.
BJP spokesman Sambit Patra dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchic elements” and said “their flop show has been completely demolished.” He told reporters that what was happening at Jantar Mantar “is not India’s story.” Critics and analysts, however, argue that conceding to demands for the election chief’s resignation would validate opposition accusations of vote theft.
Sanjay Kapoor, editor of Hard News Magazine and a political analyst, said most people coming to the protests did not want the BJP to continue governing. “Modi’s government has begun to lose a lot of credibility at the moment,” he said.
International bodies have also raised concerns. The UN Human Rights Office expressed concern over mass detentions before and during the protests, and spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan called on authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly is “fully respected and fulfilled.” Amnesty International said the detentions signal the government’s attempts to “suppress critical voices.” India’s mission to the UN in Geneva called the global concerns “misplaced” and said they amounted to “an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India.”
