Indian authorities released the leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party on Sunday, after security forces detained thousands of protesters during massive anti-government demonstrations.
The satirical party — which in July forced the resignation of India’s education minister — is at the center of youth-led protests that roiled the Indian capital on Saturday, prompted by what the Cockroaches and others allege was a politically motivated purge of voter rolls designed to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
One of the protesters’ chief demands is the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but “what started as an anti-Gyanesh movement has now become an anti-Modi movement,” a Delhi journalist argued, adding that the prime minister must now choose between “short-term shows of strength [and] long-term stability.”