Thousands rally in New Delhi demanding India's election chief resign
The protest in Connaught Place was called by the youth-led "Cockroach" movement, whose founder was detained by police beforehand.
At a glance
- Thousands rallied in Connaught Place, New Delhi, on Friday demanding election chief Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
- The rally was called by the youth "Cockroach" movement; its founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained by police beforehand.
- Critics say a voter-list review that removed over 130 million names is politically motivated; officials deny this.
Thousands of people filled Connaught Place, one of central New Delhi's busiest commercial districts, on Friday, waving the Indian flag and calling for the resignation of the country's election chief, Gyanesh Kumar.
The rally was called by the youth-led "Cockroach" movement, whose founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained by police before the demonstration. Protesters spanning generations joined the crowd, in the latest show of public dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Voter list review under fire
At issue is an ongoing review of voter lists that has removed more than 130 million names since last year. Critics say the exercise is politically motivated, threatens to disenfranchise millions more and has disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims. They have demanded that Kumar step down.
The Election Commission and Modi's administration deny the allegations, saying the revision is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Friday's protest came a week after a police crackdown on demonstrators in New Delhi. The demonstrators vastly outnumbered the security personnel lining the road, while columns of riot police stood watch. Police had earlier asked people not to join the rally and offered to let a small group gather to wave the national flag and sing the national anthem. Authorities also closed Central Park, the green space surrounded by Connaught Place's white colonial-era buildings, on Friday and Saturday.
Modi has not publicly commented on the protests. Some leaders of his party have dismissed the demonstrators as "anarchists" and suggested, without offering evidence, that they are backed by foreign powers.
Police detained Dipke ahead of the rally. A live video posted on the movement's Instagram account showed him leaving a house and heading toward the street, where officers intercepted him; after a brief exchange they hauled him into a police vehicle and drove away. "Waving the tricolor (Indian flag) is not a crime," he told reporters on Thursday. He had urged supporters unable to travel to New Delhi to raise the flag and demonstrate in their own communities. Student activist Neha Bora was also detained during the demonstration, photographs showed.
A movement born online
The "Cockroach" movement began this summer as an online satirical campaign after India's chief justice compared unemployed young people to parasites. Many young Indians embraced the remark, adopting the cockroach as a symbol of resilience, and the campaign has since expanded into a nationwide protest movement. Protests led by the group forced the resignation of Modi's education minister in July — a rare setback for the prime minister, who has been in power for more than 12 years.
It remains unclear whether the protests will grow into a wider political movement. Modi's government remains electorally strong, and anger over the voter lists may not necessarily translate into support for the opposition, which has used the issue to criticise his Hindu nationalist government.
Source: NPR News.
Questions and answers
- Why are protesters demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation?
- They say an ongoing review of voter lists, which has removed more than 130 million names since last year, is politically motivated and disproportionately affects minorities, particularly Muslims. The Election Commission and Modi's government deny the allegations.
- What is India's "Cockroach" movement?
- It began this summer as an online satirical campaign after India's chief justice compared unemployed young people to parasites, and many young Indians adopted the cockroach as a symbol of resilience. It has since become a nationwide protest movement that helped force the education minister's resignation in July.
- Was anyone detained at the New Delhi protest?
- Yes. Police detained Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach movement, ahead of the rally, and student activist Neha Bora was detained during the demonstration. Dipke told reporters, "Waving the tricolor (Indian flag) is not a crime."
