India's 'cockroach' party founder detained ahead of protest

India's Cockroach Janta Party leader detained ahead of protest

The full report

Abhijeet Dipke, the leader of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth movement, was detained by police on Friday as authorities cracked down on fresh anti-government protests in the Indian capital. The CJP had planned a demonstration in central Delhi, urging supporters to come out and hold up the Indian flag.

The Cockroach movement initially emerged as online satire in May but has since grown into one of the most substantial challenges to the powerful Modi government over its 12-year rule. Alongside student groups and opposition parties, its supporters have been out on the streets across India's biggest cities calling for the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.

The authorities, particularly in Delhi, have met the recent protests with a draconian crackdown, including bans on public gatherings, the deployment of tens of thousands of police, and detentions of thousands last weekend. Friday's protest was called by Dipke after the arrest and jailing of two of his fellow CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.

Delhi police had taken extreme measures to try to prevent Friday's demonstration from going ahead. Police were deployed en masse to the area and a police notice was sent to Dipke instructing him to call off the protest. The Delhi local authority also shut down the park where the protest was due to take place.

Despite Dipke's detention, about 2,000 protesters still gathered and unfurled flags at the protest around Delhi's Connaught Place. Among them was 23-year-old Sanna, who said the brutal police crackdown on peaceful protests over recent weeks demonstrated that India was 'on a pathway to dictatorship under the Modi government'.