Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijit Dipke said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “may have the power now, but we have the streets and we will reclaim our power from here,” as thousands gathered at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
At a “People’s Tribunal” organised by civil society groups and the CJP, Dipke alleged that the deletion of voters was being used to disenfranchise people opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The protest is witnessing a large Gen Z participation. The chants were punctuated by cries of “Inquilab Zindabad” and slogans demanding Kumar’s resignation.
Dipke said people whose names had allegedly been recorded as belonging to deceased voters were present at the protest. “People who were declared dead are standing here alive. So the death that has taken place is not the death of these people. It is the death of the democracy of this country,” he said.
Dipke had also posted that “mass detentions being done before the 10 October protest in New Delhi. Modi thinks he can silence dissent by putting people behind bars.”
“The more people you detain, the more people will show up!” Dipke warned.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor-activist Prakash Raj addressed the gathering too.
Rathee questioned the alleged removal of 70 lakh voters in West Bengal before the elections and their subsequent addition to the rolls. He also questioned the deletion of more than 40 lakh names in Bihar and the subsequent disclosure of the names following a Supreme Court direction. “In UP, over 14 lakhs were ‘added’ suddenly. Who are these people? While in Goa, even though EROs wanted to add, ECI didn’t allow,” he said.
Prakash Raj said voters were being forced to seek restoration of a right they should not have had to fight to retain. “They have insulted the voters of the country. It’s only once in five years these politicians come pleading to us. Now we are made to beg in front of their offices for our votes,” he said.
“Adivasi, poor, Muslims and minorities have been denied their vote. Because you can’t kill them, you have taken their votes,” Raj added.
He said removing Kumar would not address what he described as the larger issue. “Our fight is not merely for the resignation of Kumar. Even if he goes, another person may come in his place. That’s not what we want. We want the SIR to be scrapped totally,” he said.
The protest began around 11 am and continued through Thursday evening. It included the SIR tribunal and a separate protest on women’s safety. Organisers said people from across Karnataka who claimed to have been affected by the electoral-roll revision also attended the tribunal.
Responding to the protests, Karnataka BJP leader and Leader of Opposition R Ashoka rejected the demand for Kumar’s resignation, saying the CEC could not be removed through a street protest.
“There has to be a lengthy discussion in Parliament, a majority has to be established, and the matter has to go before the President. Just because I shout on the street that corruption has increased, chief minister DK Shivakumar cannot be removed,” Ashoka said.