Tens of thousands protested Sunday in Dehli against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over a recent revision of the voter list they say benefits the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The opposition Congress party-led alliance brought supporters from across the South Asian country amid rising anger over a large-scale overhaul of the voter roll that led to 130 names being removed.
Opposition leaders say the changes give the BJP an electoral edge and have demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign or be impeached. The BJP has denied the accusations.
The voter roll revision first emerged last year, but it became a national scandal after the Indian Express newspaper reported recently on irregularities and disagreements within the Election Commission over implementing it.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi said in a speech to supporters that Kumar “carried out the biggest crime. He has tried to silence the voice of people, strangulate our country.”
The protest, one of the oppositions’ largest shows of strength in years, took place amid a resurgence of anti-government dissent that has been put down over the 12 years of Modi’s leadership.
Congress leaders predicted more than one million would attend the protest, but tens of thousands came came out.
Youth-led protests that began over the summer forced the resignation of then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Protests, led by a movement that called itself “the cockroaches” began last month to oppose the revision of the voter rolls.
Cockroach leaders backed Sunday’s rally, but they did not attend. (UPI)