Tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed and roads barricaded in Delhi to stop the latest Cockroach Janta Party demonstration
The group says its leader, Abhijeet Dipke, is among hundreds reportedly detained since Friday evening – our correspondent says it's clear these protesters have struck a nerve
Watch the moment Dipke and others chant "long live the revolution" as police approach him on a plane in Delhi
Dipke – who has said he is prepared to go to jail – started the movement in May almost as a joke in response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to "cockroaches"
Momentum built as the movement tapped into anger over unemployment, exam paper leaks and government accountability – today's protest calls for electoral reforms and the resignation of India's election chief
Delhi feels like it is under siege, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey at the scene
Its last major protest in July saw violent clashes with police and forced India's education minister to resign
Edited by Manish Adhikary in London and produced by Sharanya Hrishikesh and Zoya Mateen in Delhi, with Geeta Pandey and Azadeh Moshiri reporting from the protest
Delhi has been heavily barricaded this morning with our reporter on the ground describing hundreds of people being detained and "buses packed with detainees".
The new designated leader of the Cockroach Janta Party has recently urged supporters to keep marching to the well-guarded Jantar Mantar site in the capital but, as these photos show, many protesters are being met with a heavy police presence.
Pavan Kanth Digavalli
BBC News Telugu
Some protesters who had been sheltering in one of Delhi’s most prominent Sikh places of worship, the Bangla Sahib gurdwara, were allegedly baton-charged and forced into buses by security personnel as they tried to march towards Jantar Mantar.
The protesters told the BBC that around 600 people had been taking shelter inside the gurdwara since Friday, and that around 300 of them had been detained.
Delhi Police has not publicly commented on the number of people detained during the day.
Protesters say the police charged at them with batons as they tried to march to Jantar Mantar
“Since morning, we have been trying to march towards Jantar Mantar, but police are not allowing us to proceed. We were baton-charged some time ago as well,” said Ajay Zingade, a software engineer from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, roads leading to the gurdwara have been heavily barricaded, with a large security deployment in the area.
Despite the crackdown, protesters say they are undeterred and will continue trying to reach Jantar Mantar.
Indian MP and former senior UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor has called the "war-like deployment" of police and "paramilitary" in Delhi "shameful".
"I returned to the national capital after 2am and have rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now," he said in a message on social media.
"Freedom of movement stands completely shackled," Tharoor posted. This was being done, he said, "to prevent citizens from peacefully raising questions about the integrity of our elections".
"Most regressive (as well as repressive)," he said, "is the suspension of the internet in the heart of the national capital."
He further said that a government that "turns its capital into a fortress" to "avoid" questions about the fairness of elections "only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress".
"Barricades will do nothing to restore faith in the Election Commission," he said and "the sooner it answers the public's questions, the sooner calm will be restored".
The CJP has just posted a video asking its supporters to march to Jantar Mantar.
"If Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar," Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP's new designated leader, said in the video.
This is similar to activist Neha Bora's appeal to people to protest where they are stopped. It looks like we might witness smaller protests in different locations around Delhi, rather than the big one planned at Jantar Mantar. We'll keep you posted.
Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi
It's Saturday afternoon at Delhi's famous Janpath Market, usually one of the busiest times of the week. But today, there's barely anyone around.
This is normally where tourists and locals come to bargain for colourful clothes, jewellery, bags, handicrafts and souvenirs. The narrow lanes are usually packed with shoppers and street vendors.
Instead, we're met by massive metal barricades and rows of police officers. The whole area has an almost lockdown-like feel.
We walk up to the police and ask if we can go inside. They refuse, even after we show them our press passes.
It's not just journalists being turned away. One disappointed tourist tells me: "I wish I'd done my shopping yesterday. Now I won't be able to."
It's a striking scene in one of Delhi's most popular markets, as the heavy security restrictions surrounding today's planned protest bring parts of the capital to a near standstill.
Student activist Neha Bora, who has been detained by Delhi Police, has urged people to gather at the Safdarjung flyover, a key transit point in the capital, and hold a sit-in protest.
“I am in detention. The movement is not,” Bora wrote in a post on X. "If you can, reach. If you are stopped, sit down where you are and hold the line."
It's not clear where Bora, who uses they/them pronouns, was posting from.
Mamata Banerjee, the former chief minister of India’s West Bengal state, has been detained by the police in Delhi’s South Avenue along with other leaders of her Trinamool Congress party, PTI news agency has reported.
The opposition leaders had staged a sit-in protest earlier in the day after they were stopped from marching towards central Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
South Avenue is about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) from Jantar Mantar, the proposed venue for a separate protest by the Cockroach Janta Party.
Opposition leader Mamata Banerjee has been detainedGeeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi
Journalists had gathered near Jantar Mantar at the start of the day to cover the protest, but most left hours later, saying they did not expect much to happen there.
By the time we left the area, police and paramilitary personnel were still on guard. Many were sitting in patches of shade, while some had gathered in small groups to chat.
The large numbers of protesters who were expected to march to Jantar Mantar had been unable to get anywhere close, but security personnel remained on alert.
Police have also been detaining protestors from different parts of the city even as hundreds continue to try and reach central Delhi.
Raghvendra Rao
BBC Hindi, reporting from Jantar Mantar
All roads leading to Jantar Mantar remain heavily barricaded.
A short while ago, prominent economist Jean Drèze arrived near the protest site and tried to stage a sit-in a few metres away, holding up a poster.
As soon as he started the protest, around seven to eight police personnel picked him up and removed him from the area. He was then put on a bus and taken away.
Some female protesters accompanying him were also detained and taken away in the same bus.
Jean Dreze surrounded by policemen and reporters
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has described today's developments as "a few anarchist forces" trying to "hold India captive".
Sambit Patra, a BJP national spokesperson and MP, told reporters: "What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India's story."
"India is calm and going ahead under good governance," he said.
The spokesperson further said that "anarchists" trying to bring "arson" and "violence" to the capital have failed and that "the flop show of anarchist elements has completely collapsed".
Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from central Delhi
Every few minutes, we see police officers surrounding a protester before taking them away. Buses packed with detainees keep pulling out, with people inside banging on the windows.
Over the loudspeakers, the same warning plays on repeat – an order under Section 163 is in force, giving police powers to prohibit gatherings in the area. Protesters are being told they cannot assemble here.
Police say the protest is illegal. They say permission was sought too late, and point to the last time the CJP was allowed to hold a one-day demonstration – which went on for weeks.
“A protest is not a one-day carnival,” one protester tells me.
The CJP's top leaders are in detention, their whereabouts still unknown. The restrictions across the capital are among the most sweeping seen in recent years.
Whether or not Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns, one thing is clear – these protesters have struck a nerve.
Shrikant Bangale
BBC Marathi
We've just heard that the grandmother of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has died, while he remains in police detention.
BBC Marathi's Shrikant Bangale spoke with Abhijeet Dipke's father Bhagwan Dipke.
"My mother – Abhijeet's grandmother – passed away at our ancestral home in Hingoli district. She was 78," he said.
Savitribai Shankar Dipke had been battling a prolonged illness in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, where the family has its roots.
It's unclear if Dipke has been informed about her death or whether he will be allowed to return home for her last rites.
The CJP leader was detained earlier today after arriving in Delhi for the planned protest. His whereabouts remain unclear.
Dipke's grandmother has died after prolonged illness
Student activist Neha Bora has been detained near the Safdarjung airport flyover in south Delhi.
It comes after Bora called on protesters to gather at Dilli Haat, close to the flyover, saying: "Dilli Haat becomes our Jantar Mantar! Gyanesh Kumar must go!"
Local media outlet The Hindu has posted on social media that the bus carrying Bora and other detainees has been stopped by a crowd of protesters at the flyover.
Bora is one of the prominent faces of India’s student and youth protests.
Neha Bora is a prominent youth leader from the Left organisation All India Students' Association
Siddhanath Ganu
BBC Marathi
At the New Delhi Railway Station, I saw hundreds of people waiting at the platform after dozens of trains were reportedly cancelled with little notice.
The station is packed with travellers sitting, eating and even sleeping as they wait for updates on their journeys. Many say they arrived early to avoid disruption, but internet restrictions in the area mean they are unable to check train schedules.
Hundreds of people have been waiting at the New Delhi Railway Station
Among them is Manjeet Dua, who travelled from Bihar and reached Delhi early on Saturday for a job interview.
"I cannot take the metro, there were no buses available, and internet restrictions mean I cannot book a cab either," he says.
"I have nothing to do with the protest, but I still have to suffer."
Dua says he is camping at the station for now because he is worried about being stopped by police outside. "People are being detained, so I’ve decided to stay here until things are clear," he says.
Manjeet Dua had come to Delhi for a job interview
Hundreds of protesters have reportedly been detained since Friday evening
In Delhi, roads have been barricaded and tens of thousands of security personnel deployed in a bid to stop the latest Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demonstration.
The group says its founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained, along with two other leaders, shortly after arriving in India's capital city from Mumbai. Authorities are yet to comment on the detentions.
As he boarded the flight to Delhi, Dipke had said: "If you think you can stop us by threatening us with jail or trying to intimidate us with the fear of imprisonment, you are mistaken."
He started the movement in May, almost as a joke, in response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to "cockroaches".
The CJP is demanding electoral reforms and the resignation of India's chief election commissioner over allegations of irregularities in voter lists – allegations the Election Commission denies.
Despite efforts to halt the protest, including Delhi police refusing permission for the demonstration, the CJP says it will go ahead at Jantar Mantar.
The BBC's Geeta Pandey, who is at the scene, describes police officers forming human chains, drones flying overhead and huge metal barricades. There is little sign of anyone being allowed anywhere near the protest site, she reports.
Some journalists have also reportedly faced police action. Indian news outlets Newslaundry and Scroll say their reporters were detained while covering events.
News outlet Newslaundry says its three journalists detained by the Delhi Police have been released.
Newslaundry alleged that its reporters were driven around Delhi for more than an hour before being released. "We will continue to report," it wrote on X.
The journalists were detained earlier today, with Newslaundry also alleging that police had seized their work phones. The police has not commented on this.
Abhijeet Dipke and other prominent faces may be detained, but the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) says someone else is ready to lead today's protest in Delhi.
The group says its organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, will take charge of the planned gathering at Jantar Mantar.
Dipke appeared to have seen this coming. "If you're watching this video, it means we have already been arrested," he said in a message recorded on Friday night and shared by the CJP on X a short while ago.
We have been reporting that it is not clear where Dipke and two other detained CJP leaders are. Police have also been turning away or detaining protesters at the planned protest site. We will bring you more updates on the protests as we get them.
As we've been reporting, Abhijeet Dipke, the leader of the Cockroach movement, has been detained after flying from Mumbai to Delhi for the protest.
"It was nice to know you all. You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight," he says as authorities board the plane he and other movement leaders are travelling on.
"This is dictatorship," he says, in a video posted online by the Cockroach Janta Party.
"Come arrest us. We are here to be arrested," he says in Hindi to the approaching officers. "We are not afraid of you."
The officers then approach him, and ask the person filming to put their phone down. "You've been denied the permission to protest," an officer says.
The Cockroach Janta Party says Dipke and other movement leaders have been detained. Their whereabouts remain unclear, and authorities in Delhi have not confirmed the detentions or provided details.
Before his detention, Dipke said on social media that the mass detention of protesters and the shutdown of Delhi were "not signs of strength, but of a leader terrified of his own people".
This video can not be played
We've just heard more from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) about its three leaders detained by police earlier today.
The group alleges its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, along with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, have been taken to an undisclosed location.
It claims the three are being denied access to lawyers and have been cut off from contact with others.
We had reported earlier that its not clear where the three men are after they were detained from the flight they were on.
Delhi Police have yet to publicly comment on the allegation.
Gyanesh Kumar, India's Chief Election Commissioner
At the centre of today's protests and the crackdown is one name: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Under Kumar's leadership, India's election commission has undertaken a mammoth exercise to update electoral rolls nationwide – it said this was a routine exercise to weed out dead, duplicate or ineligible voters.
But in many states, the exercise has been shrouded in controversy, with tens of thousands of people alleging they have been wrongly removed.
Overall, more than 130 million names have been removed from the rolls.
The Cockroach Janta Party – and opposition parties – accuse Kumar of favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the way the electoral rolls are being updated.
They have also alleged irregularities in the way Kumar has been functioning, citing a recent newspaper report that said his fellow Election Commissioners had objected to decisions allegedly taken without their knowledge.
The BJP and the Election Commission have denied allegations of favouritism.
The commission also said in a statement after the report that "differing views" were a normal part of the "decision-making process".
Read more about the controversy here.
Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
About the Author
