Gen Z against Modi: The protest sweeping India anew
A massive protest in India after 130 million names were deleted from the voter rolls, a move protesters say is meant to strengthen Modi's rule. Police blocked New Delhi, shut down trains and the metro, cut off the internet and arrested protest leaders.
A massive protest in India, led by a Gen Z youth movement known as the 'Cockroach Party', is sweeping the country after 130 million names were deleted from the voter rolls. The move, called a 'special intensive revision', began last summer with the official aim of cleaning up duplicate registrations, but critics fear it is a political purge meant to entrench the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in power for 12 years. Security forces turned New Delhi into a military fortress: armed police deployed barricades, the internet in the city center was cut, train service was cancelled and 45 metro stations were closed. The founder of the protest movement, 31-year-old Abhijit Dipke, was arrested upon landing at Delhi airport, along with two other leaders. Additional leaders, Surav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were also detained. The protesters demand the immediate resignation of the head of the election commission, Gyansh Kumar, a complete halt to the roll revision until an independent investigation, and the restoration of the previous list. Farmers' organizations, the opposition party 'Aam Admi' and student organizations are expected to join the youth movement. Prime Minister Modi remains silent, while Interior Minister Amit Shah accused the opposition of lies.