India Cockroach Janta Party claims 10,000 detained ahead of Delhi protest

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has accused Indian authorities of launching a nationwide crackdown, claiming at least 10,000 of its members and supporters have been detained ahead of a major weekend protest in New Delhi.

The youth-led movement, which has quickly evolved from a satirical online campaign into a potent political force, had planned a march to Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital, on Saturday 10 October.

CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka announced the detentions on Thursday, writing on social media that those held included student organisations, grassroots groups, and members of allied political parties. Among them was a group of students from the western city of Pune who were intercepted on a bus to Delhi and taken to an unknown location, according to the party. National spokesperson Deepak Baliyan was also detained on Thursday, though he was released later that night.

Why is the Cockroach Janta Party protesting?

The planned march is the latest escalation in a row over a massive nationwide update of India's voter rolls, known as the Special Intensive Revision.

More than 130 million names have been removed from the registers so far—a figure larger than the population of Japan or Mexico. The CJP and mainstream opposition parties, including the Congress party, allege that the removals disproportionately target voters likely to support them, while leaving supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) untouched.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the government of pulling off "the biggest scam" to undermine Indian democracy, pointing to cases where living voters with valid identification documents were recorded as dead and stripped of their voting rights.

"The government is selecting who will be the voter and who will not vote," Dipke said at a press conference on Thursday.

The Election Commission and the central government have strongly rejected the allegations, stating that the revision is a routine administrative clean-up intended solely to remove duplicate, deceased, or ineligible entries.

Who has been detained in the sweep?

While police authorities have not confirmed the figure of 10,000 detentions, videos shared online show activists being bundled into police vans in several cities.

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said mass detentions were underway in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Delhi. The tension has drawn in senior opposition figures. On Wednesday, police in New Delhi briefly detained Congress party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra as they tried to reach Jantar Mantar.

In Bengaluru, hundreds of CJP supporters defied local restrictions to protest on Thursday, carrying placards reading "Every name counts, Every vote matters" and accusing the government of killing democracy.

How has the government responded?

The ruling BJP and local law enforcement have dismissed the claims of political targeting and police overreach.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia called the allegations "baseless" and accused the opposition of being "irresponsible" and "anarchist". Delhi Police denied allegations of using excessive force against politicians, claiming the accusations were designed to defame the force.

Despite the barricades and detentions, CJP leaders insist the protest will proceed. Dipke questioned why demonstrations were allowed in Mumbai and Bengaluru but blocked in the capital.

"Why not just declare Emergency?" Dipke asked on social media, adding that the protest would go ahead with or without the party's leadership.