In brief
In mid‑October, Delhi police detained Abhijeet Dipke, the young founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, as the movement prepared a protest in Connaught Place calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protest drew hundreds, but heavy security forced the site to be blocked and resulted in further detentions of party leaders, deepening the dispute over alleged voter‑roll manipulation. Opposition lawmakers have joined the chorus of dissent, while government officials defend the integrity of the Election Commission. With its main leaders now in custody, the CJP vows to persist with flag‑raising actions and small‑scale rallies, asserting that political pressure will not falter.
India’s “cockroach” movement founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained by Delhi police on Friday as the youth‑led group prepared a protest in Connaught Place demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Hundreds gathered on the streets, waving the tricolour and chanting slogans despite a formidable security presence that sealed off Central Park and blocked key access routes. Police quickly moved to detain Dipke after a brief Instagram exchange with the officer who was counselling him against staging the march.
It is the second time Dipke has been taken into custody in two weeks – the first involved passengers from his flight being barred from leaving the airport, and the second saw him carried into a police vehicle near his apartment. The group’s co‑leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were also recently jailed for five days after returning to Jantar Mantar – a Trump‑style protest site that authorities have now excluded from the list of licensed venues.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) claims the Election Commission’s “special intensive revision” of voter rolls favours the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and threatens the rights of ordinary voters. The commission insists the revision cleans up duplicate, deceased, and ineligible entries, while the opposition and CJP say it could disenfranchise large sections of the electorate.
Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi have joined the protest chorus, with some lawmakers detained while attempting to march on the commission’s headquarters. Home Minister Amit Shah has defended the commission’s independence and accused opponents of spreading misinformation.
With the three senior CJP figures in custody, the movement’s spokesperson Mehr Pasricha said the party would continue to organise peaceful, flag‑raising actions, even in small groups, and that the political pressure it could mobilise would not wane.
