India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began as a satirical movement but is now emerging as a political force among gen Z’s, says authorities have begun detaining its members en masse days before a major anti-government protest in Delhi.
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authorities → begin → Delhi
Opposition parties, their student units, and the “Cockroach” youth movement have been holding almost daily demonstrations seeking the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a controversial revision of voter lists.
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parties → hold → lists
Thousands are expected to march to Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital, New Delhi, on Saturday, amid mounting anger in the world’s largest democracy.
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Thousands → expect → democracy
A spokesperson for the CJP, Ashutosh Ranka, said in a post on X on Thursday that “at least 10,000” people from CJP demonstrations, student organisations, affiliated grassroots groups and political parties had been detained across the country.
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people → say → country
Police authorities didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments.
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authorities → respond → comments
Videos posted on social media platform X showed activists being taken away in vans.
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activists → post → vans
The CJP said that among those detained was a group of students from the western city of Pune who were headed for the 10 October protest in Delhi.
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who → say → Delhi
It said they were being taken away in a bus to an unknown location.
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they → say → location
The nationwide voter list review, known as the special intensive revision, has been carried out in most of India’s states and federally administered territories.
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review → know → states
More than 130 million names have been removed so far, a number larger than the populations of countries like Japan and Mexico.
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names → remove → Japan
Millions of people have appealed against the deletions.
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Millions → appeal → deletions
The opposition says the removals disproportionately affect voters who support them, while voters more likely to back prime minister Narendra Modi’s party have been preserved or added to the lists.
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voters → say → lists
The election commission and the government reject the allegations, saying the revision is aimed at removing duplicate and ineligible entries.
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revision → reject → entries
The campaign has been led in part by the “Cockroach” movement, which began as an online youth campaign in May and has since organised street protests across the country.
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which → lead → country
The protests present a new political challenge to Modi midway into his third term, just months after similar demonstrations led by the CJP forced the resignation of his education minister over exam paper leaks.
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demonstrations → present → leaks
In the lead up to Saturday’s planned demonstration, hundreds of supporters of the CJP youth movement protested in tech hub Bengaluru on Thursday.
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hundreds → plan → Thursday
Many of the protesters held posters that said, “Every name counts, Every vote matters” and “Stop the Murder of Democracy”.
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vote → hold → Democracy
“I think voting right is the most basic point of democracy …
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right → think → democracy
People who actually want to vote, who actually care about the future of India, they are just being (denied) voting rights,” said Khushi Shrivastava, a 22-year-old architecture student who attended the Bengaluru protest.
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who → want → protest
On Wednesday, the opposition Congress party accused police of using “brute force” to briefly detain party leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Vadra, and other lawmakers as they tried to reach the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi.
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they → accuse → Delhi
Delhi Police said the allegations were being used to “defame” the force.
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allegations → say → force
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the allegations were “being levelled by an irresponsible, anarchist opposition”.
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allegations → say → opposition
The claims had “no base, not an iota of evidence”, he told reporters at a media briefing on Thursday.
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he → have → Thursday
Police have barricaded the area in Delhi ahead of Saturday’s planned demonstrations.
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Police → barricade → demonstrations
The Aporia
