On the Eve of New Delhi Protests: Nearly 30,000 Police Deployed, Leaders Intercepted at Airport, Over 50 Metro Stations Closed

The Indian government has deployed nearly 30,000 police officers in New Delhi, attempting to turn the capital into a "fortress." On Saturday morning, the streets around the colonial-era Connaught Place and nearby Jantar Mantar were lined with heavy barricades, the central business district shrouded in an uneasy silence, as police began detaining protesters arriving in batches.

According to Al Jazeera, the protest was called by the "Cockroach People's Party" and Gen Z, demanding the resignation of Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar and the withdrawal of a controversial voter roll revision. Critics allege the revision has removed approximately 130 million people from the voter rolls, "disproportionately" targeting Muslims, economically disadvantaged groups, and minorities communities, and upending the foundations of Indian democracy.

Al Jazeera reported that police intercepted "Cockroach People's Party" founder Abhijeet Dipke at the airport. India TV reported that officials approached Dipke after he flew from Mumbai to New Delhi, demanding he call off the protest that had already been banned by authorities. The movement said in a statement that leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were also taken away after their flights landed.

On Friday, the Indian government cancelled all trains heading to New Delhi, closed more than fifty metro stations, and implemented internet shutdowns in some areas. Al Jazeera reported that authorities also dispatched personnel to the locations of thousands of students, warning them not to join the protest. Several students heading to New Delhi were dragged off trains and buses and detained, with many placed under house arrest in cities hundreds of kilometres from New Delhi.

The "Cockroach Movement" said thousands had been detained across India, but the total number of those held has not been independently verified.

In July, protests led by the Cockroach Movement paralysed key streets in New Delhi and forced Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign.

Santosh Kumar, a 29-year-old street sweeper, told Al Jazeera that he felt despondent watching teenagers being detained at police barricades. "How can you stop these kids? You detain ten, and fifty more come from behind. The era of dictator Modi is over; he won't even survive until 2029 [the next general election]." Citing youth movements in Nepal and Bangladesh, he said: "It's time to turn Delhi into Nepal and Bangladesh — learn from them, take our country back."

Sameer Irshad, a 28-year-old engineer from Gurgaon, pushed his 57-year-old mother Sheeba Abdi, who was in a wheelchair, up to the barricades near Connaught Place. Abdi told Al Jazeera: "This kind of repression — we cannot even peacefully express dissent — is unprecedented in Delhi. Why has the government turned this place into a fortress? Why are they so afraid of citizens like me?"

The current restrictions and nationwide crackdown have evoked memories of the Emergency declared in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — when civil liberties were suspended, the media was censored, and political opponents were jailed. Dipke wrote on X: "Modi has just made the Emergency official policy. This intimidation won't work, Modi. The young people of this country are no longer afraid of you."

Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and a Gen Z protest leader, drew a parallel between the Modi government and the British colonizers who failed to suppress India's independence movement, calling on the public to join the protest.

An Indian Express investigation alleged that Election Commission chief Kumar had ignored concerns raised by two other election commissioners about the integrity of the voter database. India is one of the few countries that actively pursues universal voter registration; critics argue that the ongoing voter roll revision inverts this principle.

Arif, a 24-year-old Saharanpur district coordinator for the Students' Federation of India (SFI), has been under house arrest since Thursday, about 200 kilometres from New Delhi. He told Al Jazeera: "Several police officers banged on my family's door late at night without warning, demanding my whereabouts from my parents. They just want to stop me from going to Delhi to join the protest. They threatened to file criminal cases against me and ruin my future."

This week, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated 25 years in politics — including the massacre of Muslims during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002, and his prime ministership since 2014. Biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay told Al Jazeera: "In public perception, Modi is at the lowest point of his political career. This is deeply paradoxical — because he has firm control over several of the most important autonomous institutions, much of the bureaucratic apparatus, and the state branches, and makes them act according to his will." Mukhopadhyay added that in the face of rising protests, Modi is "rapidly losing the image of a leader who can lead people out of the struggle for survival," and that Modi has adopted these more extreme measures "because he wants to maintain the aura and image of a leader who never yields to public pressure and is invincible."

Prashant Bhushan, a senior Supreme Court lawyer and activist who planned to join Saturday's protest, told Al Jazeera: "The Modi government looks very afraid of the people. India's people are awakening and demanding answers. When governments are afraid, they take harsh measures to maintain power. But more and more people will rise up against repression."

The ultimate legal status of Dipke and the other leaders remained unclear at the time of reporting.