India’s Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has vowed to continue its protest seeking the resignation of top election official even as the nation’s capital sees demonstrations for a second day, with thousands of security personnel deployed and roads barricaded.
Abhijeet Dipke – who began the movement in May after India’s Chief Justice likened some jobless young people to “cockroaches” – and other leaders were arrested on arrival in Delhi on Saturday. They were freed on Sunday.
Dipke said “the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated” in his first comments after his release.
Media reports said 7,000 protesters were detained and released on Saturday, with hundreds detained on Sunday.
The CJP – which is not registered as a political party in India – is seeking electoral reforms just months before crucial state elections.
It has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists – which the Election Commission has denied.
On Sunday morning, Dipke and two other senior CJP leaders – Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka – were set free by a magistrate’s court “on the condition that they will not engage in breach of peace for one year”, police said.
After his release, Dipke posted on X: “Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India.”
He said he was going to his village to attend the funeral of his grandmother, who died around the time of his arrest. He added that “the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated”.
Ranka and Das later told a news conference that the condition did not mean they could not protest.
“Peaceful protest is our constitutional right and Jantar Mantar is a desginated protest site, so this doesn’t mean we can’t do peaceful protest,” Ranka said.
“Breach of peace is done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and CEC Gyanesh Kumar,” he said, adding that the CJP will continue to protest.
Saturday saw dramatic scenes as police officials boarded the flight to detain Dipke, Das and Ranka as their plane landed.