Abhijeet Dipke, the movement’s founder, was met by officers at Delhi airport after flying in from Mumbai. They urged him to call off the demonstration because authorities had banned it. Fellow leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were also detained from their flights upon landing, according to a statement from the group.
The Cockroach Janta Party wants thousands of young people to gather at Jantar Mantar and push Kumar to quit over a voter-list revision that critics claim favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Television footage showed police chasing small groups of backpack-wearing protesters through the central business district and loading them into vehicles. A police source said about 200 people were held in that area alone. Outside Delhi, popular YouTuber and protest supporter Dhruv Rathee was also detained, a spokesperson confirmed.
Metro stations and markets stayed shut. Mobile internet was suspended. Officers boarded buses and checked cars at every entry point into the city. Barricades and concrete blocks sealed major roads while anti-riot vehicles with tear-gas guns stood ready. Police warned that anyone violating the ban would face the full force of the law. They described the restrictions as temporary measures to keep order and protect both protesters and the public.
Dipke spoke just before leaving Mumbai. “Why is the prime minister so scared of the country’s youth?” he asked. “Why close the railways, the metro, the internet and the roads? This is nothing but fear.”
The protest follows an Indian Express report that Kumar’s deputies had questioned his decisions on list changes that removed roughly 130 million names—more people than live in Japan. Opposition parties say the deletions helped the BJP in recent state elections and threaten the fairness of the world’s largest democracy. The Election Commission and the BJP reject the charges. Officials note that the 130 million figure covers people who moved, could not be found or had died, and that wrongly deleted voters can re-register. The revision is still incomplete.
These near-daily demonstrations mark a fresh political test for Modi only months after similar protests forced his education minister to resign. They also come ahead of crucial state elections in 2027, including in Uttar Pradesh.
