▲ India's Gen Z Roach Party holds a protest alleging unfair practices by the election commission.
Tensions are rising in India as authorities have arrested multiple individuals ahead of a large-scale protest targeting alleged unfairness by the Election Commission.
On October 9, the youth-led Roach People's Party announced via social media that several officials, including senior executive Deepak Baliyan, had been detained by police.
Police reportedly assaulted and detained Baliyan and others the previous day in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, though Baliyan was later released.
Additionally, students traveling from Pune in the western state of Maharashtra to attend a protest scheduled for October 10 in the capital, New Delhi, were reportedly boarded onto buses by authorities and taken to an undisclosed location.
Abhijit Dipke, the founder of the Roach People's Party, stated on social media that volunteer activists from the southern state of Telangana were also detained in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, claiming that mass arrests are taking place ahead of the October 10 protest.
"Prime Minister Modi thinks he can silence dissent by putting people behind bars," Dipke said. "The more arrests he makes, the more people will come out to protest."
Ashutosh Lanka, a spokesperson for the party, also stated, "At least 10,000 people have been detained nationwide. This is practically an emergency."
The Roach People's Party launched protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and stronger independence and transparency for the commission, following recent allegations that the Election Commission manipulated voter rolls to favor Prime Minister Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The group had announced plans to stage a massive demonstration on October 10 at Jantar Mantar, a government-designated protest site in New Delhi.
Although local police denied a permit for the rally, Saurabh Das, a co-founder of the Roach People's Party, wrote on social media, "It is a bizarre notion that one needs government permission to protest against the government. We will exercise this right no matter what."
They claimed that the Election Commission has carried out voter list revisions favoring the ruling party, including the removal of 130 million people from voter rolls from mid-last year to the present.
According to a report by the local media outlet The Indian Express last month, two out of the three members of the Election Commission, excluding Commissioner Kumar, raised questions and protests on about 10 occasions, claiming that certain decisions and orders regarding the voter list revision were made without their knowledge.
In fact, following the removal of approximately 9 million voters from the rolls in the eastern state of West Bengal last April, state assembly elections were held, resulting in a landslide victory for the ruling party.
The Roach People's Party was formed following a remark in May by Supreme Court of India Justice Surya Kant comparing unemployed youth to cockroaches. It has rapidly expanded its influence—gathering over 23 million followers on Instagram alone—and is pressing the Modi government.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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