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Delhi clampdown on youth 'cockroach' movement deepens as founder is held

Police held the movement's founder, Abhijeet Dipke, before a planned Delhi rally, days after mass arrests and two leaders being locked up.

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What happened

A youth-led movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party has staged almost daily protests in India against a nationwide overhaul of voter lists, which critics say wrongly removed eligible voters, many of them Muslim, and may have helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.

Why it matters

Critics say the voter-roll review removed about 130 million people, and one analysis describes the protest movement as the most serious challenge to Modi's rule in years.

Timeline

  1. Oct 15, 7:30 PM ET: Protesters vowed to return to the streets after mass detentions last week and the jailing of two movement leaders.
  2. Oct 16, 1:52 AM ET: Authorities deployed 6,000 police in Delhi, and the Central Park gathering point was closed to the public ahead of a 5 pm tiranga march.
  3. Oct 16, 4:44 AM ET: Delhi Police visited Dipke's home and told him not to hold the tiranga march.
  4. Oct 16, 8:07 AM ET: Police detained Dipke ahead of the protest.

Coverage

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