Members of the youth-driven “Cockroach” movement in India have accused authorities of arresting thousands of them and their supporters before the scheduled protest in New Delhi on October 10. The planned rally will call for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar amid fears about the revamp of electoral rolls.
The newly formed political party known as Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led protest movement, has claimed that some of its members have been arrested in different parts of the country. One such person arrested was Deepak Baliyan, an influential leader and spokesperson of the organisation. The movement has further complained that some students from Pune who were heading to Delhi for the protest have been arrested.
According to CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka, more than 10,000 people related to the movement, including students’ organisations and others, have been arrested across the country. However, there has been no independent verification of the figures and allegations regarding the arrests.
The scheduled protest is one of the many in the ongoing campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This process of removing people from voter rolls is being criticised by opposition political parties and student organisations.
Similarly, the voter list review process by the Election Commission of India too has been politicized with demands for transparency and accountability being made from opposition leaders against whom the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliates have denied any charge of political interference.
In this regard, the CJP organization has decided to stage a protest march at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi this coming Saturday. The security preparations are being made before the upcoming event, although the restrictions placed on public gatherings have been a major consideration in this case.
These detentions have led to increased tension between the movement and the government authorities. Despite the description of this move as an effort to curtail their protest activities by the said organization, there is yet no independent confirmation of the extent of these arrests.
The developments before the planned protest march on October 10 will definitely attract more attention to the above-mentioned controversy.
