Delhi Police Detain CJP Founder Abhijeet Dipke at Airport as Thousands of Personnel Lock Down Capital Before Protest

Since the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) began a run of near-daily protests over the revision of India's voter lists, the movement has grown from street marches into a direct standoff with the capital's security apparatus. Saturday, Oct. 10, was meant to be its biggest day yet.

It began with arrests. Delhi Police detained CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, along with leaders Saurav Das and Ranka, after their flight from Mumbai landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport, according to UNI. Dipke had said Friday he did not know whether he would be picked up at the airport or later.

A few protesters were also detained near Janpath in the Connaught Place area, according to ANI. Police teams were told to detain anyone trying to stage a protest, regardless of location.

What the capital looks like

Delhi Police denied permission for the rally at Jantar Mantar, the site authorities normally designate for protests. Police say the request was not filed on time and that the CJP broke undertakings it gave during earlier demonstrations. They have warned of a forceful response to anyone who defies the ban. Section 163 of the BNSS, which prohibits unlawful gatherings, is in force across Lutyens' Delhi.

The Ministry of Home Affairs approved a 24-hour suspension of mobile internet within four kilometres of the Janpath-Kartavya Path crossing, running from 10 pm on Oct. 9 to 10 pm on Oct. 10. The order, issued under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, covers all mobile internet technologies. Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Jio and MTNL were told to implement it.

Authorities also closed 57 metro stations from Friday night and cancelled several long-distance trains. Roads to the site are blocked by up to seven layers of barricades. Police installed more than 300 CCTV cameras and prepared 12 detention centres. Hotels and lodges are being checked.

The size of the deployment depends on who is counting. ANI reported more than 35,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary personnel across the capital. India Today put the figure at more than 20,000, with over 6,500 of them guarding a roughly 1.5-km sensitive zone around Jantar Mantar, Janpath, the Election Commission and Delhi Police headquarters.

India's Supreme Court said Friday that some trains must still run and that a blanket closure of metro stations is unlikely. The 57 station closures were reported to be in place from Friday night, and the court has not been reported to have ordered them reopened.

The dispute behind the protest

The CJP wants Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. It also wants the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls scrapped, free and fair elections, and an independent process for selecting Election Commissioners. The revision has removed more than 130 million names from the rolls.

The Election Commission says the exercise strips out duplicate and ineligible voters and is meant to keep "foreign illegal immigrants" off the rolls. Critics say the revision favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP. No evidence for that claim appears in the sources beyond the critics' own assertions, and the Commission's breakdown of who was removed and why is the number that would settle it.

Clean voter rolls are a legitimate goal in any democracy. Dropping 130 million names is not a rounding error, though, and a public that doubts the process will doubt the result. Auditable, published removal data is the answer to that, not barricades.

Police rationale and the opposition's response

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan has asked states and Union Territories to coordinate with Delhi Police, citing intelligence inputs that protesters could enter the capital despite the restrictions. Police were instructed to show maximum restraint and avoid reacting to provocation, sources told India Today. Barricades have also gone up on Ashoka Road, Tolstoy Marg and Jantar Mantar Lane, where violence, stone-pelting or clashes were reported during the previous protest on July 20.

The CJP rejects the premise. "The dictator would rather shut down the entire national capital and inconvenience millions of citizens than allow a peaceful protest at a designated protest site," Dipke said on X. The party says at least 10,000 people, including protesters travelling to Delhi by train, have been detained nationwide. Police have not published a count. Dipke said he would not pull out even if detained, and that the government could invoke UAPA or the NSA against him if it wished.

Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association, put it this way: "You can detain the people, you cannot detain the movement."

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Friday that "Kashmir model has been exported to Delhi. Welcome to the New Delhi, modelled on the New Jammu and Kashmir." PDP leader Iltija Mufti said "what started in Kashmir is now engulfing India" and alleged that "right-wing goons" were being allowed into Jantar Mantar while the CJP was kept out.

Five Left parties, the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML)-Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc, issued a joint statement calling the curbs an infringement of the right to peaceful protest. They alleged house arrests in several states and surveillance of student organisation offices. The INDIA bloc also held a joint protest against the Chief Election Commissioner in Srinagar on Saturday.

The internet suspension is set to expire at 10 pm Saturday. Whether Dipke, Das and Ranka are released or formally arrested, and whether any charges follow, has not been announced. So far the government has not moved on Kumar's position or the SIR, and the CJP says the demonstrations will continue.

Police have said they will respond forcefully to violations of the ban, and the previous Jantar Mantar protest on July 20 ended in reported clashes. That history is the test for whether Saturday's restrictions prevent violence or only postpone the confrontation.