Protests erupted in New Delhi on Saturday as young Indians rallied against a voter list purge they say favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party NEW DELHI -- Kashish Rawat traveled to New Delhi on Saturday to protest. She did not tell her parents she was going. When the 22-year-old economics student arrived in the Indian capital, she encountered a city transformed.
Metal barricades choked the streets as police moved against young demonstrators, beating some, dragging others into buses and chasing away the rest. Protesters filmed the police violence on their phones, and the videos quickly went viral on social media. The crackdown was meant to keep crowds of mostly young Indians from gathering to demonstrate against a purge of voter lists they say favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
It did not deter Rawat, who stayed on the streets until evening, keeping out of the reach of police officers. We will come back again and make our voices heard,” she said. Protests led by India’s “Cockroach” youth movement intensified earlier this month over an ongoing review of voter lists that’s already removed more than 130 million names since last year.
Critics say the campaign is politically motivated and threatens to disenfranchise millions more. They have demanded the resignation of election chief Gyanesh Kumar. The Election Commission says the exercise is needed to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Modi has not publicly commented on the protests. Some of his party leaders have dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchists” and suggested, without offering evidence, that they are backed by foreign powers. The dispute has struck at the heart of Indian democracy: the right to vote.
It is also testing whether a generation raised under Modi, who has been prime minister for more than 12 years, can turn its growing disillusionment into a sustained challenge to his Hindu nationalist government. So I don’t understand the reason why we should be scared of questioning that guy.” India’s democratic institutions have come under growing pressure under Modi, with critics accusing his government of weakening checks on executive power, curbing dissent and targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims. Press freedom groups have also raised concerns about pressure on independent media.
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