The founder of India’s Cockroach Janata Party has confirmed that a major protest planned in New Delhi on Saturday will take place as scheduled, even after authorities detained large numbers of his supporters. Abhijeet Dipke said he would arrive in the capital and march to the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar no matter what.
The demonstration is being organised against a controversial revision of voter lists that removed around 130 million voters across the country. Opposition parties, student groups and the Cockroach Janata Party are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the exercise.
Dipke posted on X that the youth of India are no longer afraid, directly addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He insisted the protest would continue despite the detentions, which he claimed numbered in the thousands.
Police in Delhi stated that the Cockroach Janata Party does not have permission for the Saturday gathering and warned of legal action if rules are broken. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel, including forces from sensitive regions, have been deployed to the capital to maintain order.
Some long-distance trains heading to New Delhi on Saturday have been cancelled. Authorities have also reduced metro services and closed certain exits, citing concerns over possible unrest.
The opposition Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, has called a meeting of allies from more than a dozen parties opposed to the ruling BJP. The group plans to meet President Droupadi Murmu later on Friday.
Critics argue that the voter list revision amounts to mass disenfranchisement designed to benefit the ruling party. They want the current exercise scrapped and the previous lists restored. The Election Commission maintains that the figures represent entries flagged during a draft process that is still incomplete, and that anyone wrongly removed can re-enrol.
India, the world’s largest democracy with nearly a billion eligible voters, began the verification drive last year. The issue has now become a major point of political tension as the Cockroach Janata Party and opposition forces prepare for Saturday’s show of strength in the capital.
