New Delhi Crackdown on 'Cockroach Party' Protest: Over 500 Detained, Three Main Leaders Intercepted Upon Landing

According to a Deutsche Welle report, Indian authorities deployed tens of thousands of security personnel on October 10 and erected heavy roadblocks in central New Delhi and at all entrances to the capital to prevent a youth protest movement called the "Cockroach Janta Party" (CJP) from reaching the designated protest site Jantar Mantar. Citing police sources, Deutsche Welle reported that 200 people were arrested in the Connaught Place area of New Delhi alone; combined with those detained in other areas, the number of police detentions that day exceeded 500.

The protest's immediate demand was the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, Chief Commissioner of India's Election Commission. CJP had previously mobilized mass protests in July that forced the then-education minister to step down over an examination scandal. The immediate trigger this time was the "special intensive revision" being pushed by the Election Commission. The opposition and critics warned that the revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit Prime Minister Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission rejected the allegations of irregularities, saying the purpose of the revision was to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

The crackdown began even before the protesters reached the capital. Deutsche Welle reported that three CJP founders, Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka, flew from Mumbai to New Delhi on Saturday morning and were detained by Delhi police before they could disembark. CJP claimed the three were taken to an undisclosed location, unable to meet lawyers, and "completely cut off" from the outside world. CJP's national organizing head, Ajinkya Shinde, subsequently took over command. In a video released by CJP, he called on supporters to continue advancing toward Jantar Mantar, saying "wherever Delhi police stops you, that place becomes your Jantar Mantar."

The list of those detained extended far beyond CJP members. Deutsche Welle noted that several opposition leaders were arrested during the protest crackdown, including Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and former Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party figure Pinarayi Vijayan. The Supreme Court Bar Association of India, in a resolution it passed, expressed "grave concern" over police use of "excessive force and detention against senior and junior lawyers, especially women lawyers" inside and outside the Supreme Court, and requested Chief Justice Surya Kant to intervene urgently to determine the whereabouts and safety of every detained lawyer.

The Indian independent media outlets Scroll and Newslaundry reported that their journalists were detained by police while covering the protests. Newslaundry said police had confiscated its journalist's phone, and other reports said journalists were beaten. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) subsequently called on Delhi police to immediately release all detained journalists and media workers, return confiscated equipment, and investigate the alleged beatings. Deutsche Welle noted that in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders, India ranked 157th out of 180 countries, down six places from 2025. Press freedom organizations have continued to express concern over the use of criminal law against journalists and its impact on independent journalism.

Opposition rhetoric toward the crackdown was unusually harsh. Kejriwal wrote on the social platform X: "This is worse than emergency. The official version is this... we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Taking the cockroaches straight off the plane shows a fear the like of which has never been seen before." Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote: "India is no longer a democratic country. It is a dictatorship run by Mr. Modi and Mr. Amit Shah." Congress MP Shashi Tharoor posted on X that the authorities had deployed "quasi-wartime levels of police force," and listed the suspension of internet services in key New Delhi areas as one of "the most regressive" and "the most authoritarian" measures. He wrote: "A government confident in the fairness of its elections should welcome outside questions; a government that turns the capital into a fortress to avoid questions only deepens the suspicions it seeks to suppress. Governments should provide answers, not batons; should allow expression, not repression."

Deutsche Welle reported that BJP president Nitin Nabin on the 10th accused opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal of "attempting to create tensions," and implied that "foreign forces" were backing the opposition in a bid to "destabilize India," but offered no evidence. Nabin also warned that the BJP and "patriotic Indian citizens" would deliver a "harsh response" to the opposition.

Protesters on the ground described an almost surreal atmosphere. Jasmine, a protester interviewed on the streets by Deutsche Welle Hindi service reporter Adarsh Sharma, said: "We've been playing cat and mouse with the police, trying to find ways to keep them from taking us away. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before. Protesting is a basic right... the idea that you need permission to protest the government is absurd — you're protesting a government, would you really ask that same government for permission? They won't give it."

According to Deutsche Welle, as of going to press, it remained unclear whether the planned protest could proceed. Police had not authorized the demonstration, and some protesters were scattered at various points in central New Delhi, waiting for an opportunity to continue advancing toward Jantar Mantar. The report also mentioned that CJP founder Dipke's grandmother had died that day in his hometown in Maharashtra. Asian News International (ANI), citing police sources, said Delhi police had informed Dipke of the matter and that whether he would return home for the funeral was his own decision.