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Indian Opposition, Student Protesters Take to Streets Over Voter Roll Cuts

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By Hank Hsu/John Van Trieste

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Indian opposition leaders and student demonstrators have joined up on the streets of New Delhi to protest a cut to voter rolls. India's supreme court says it removed the names of dead people and other illegitimate entries to voter registries, but protesters say it purged legitimate voters, mainly Muslims, to favor the ruling party.

Protestors take to the streets of New Delhi, marching towards India’s Supreme Court, despite barricades, shuttered metro stations and police detentions that now number in the thousands.

With them is Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India’s opposition.

Their goal: get the chief justice to reverse a revision to voter rolls that’s removed over a hundred million names from lists. They also want India’s election chief, Gyanesh Kumar, to resign. The government says they removed names of dead people, fraudulent entries and duplicate registries. But these protestors say the revision favors the ruling party, and those disenfranchised are largely minorities, Muslims in particular.

MOMINA MERAJ, PROTESTER:

"We live in a democracy. We want to exercise all our democratic rights. We don’t want to live under such a dictatorial oppressive regime."

ACHAL SAHARAN, PROTESTER:

"Everything has been taken away. You cannot silence everything."

These protests are a continuation of discontent that’s been boiling over—and not just among the political opposition. In the mix are young people who identify with India’s so-called “cockroach” protest movement that’s swept the country this year. A few months ago, their main focus was on education and an exam leak scandal...but the voter list purge is now in their sights, too.

MASOOD RAZA KHAN, NATIONAL STUDENTS’ UNION OF INDIA:

"The voter roll revision should be withdrawn, and Gyanesh Kumar should resign. These are the demands of our leader, and we are here today in response to his call."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far kept quiet on the issue, but some of his allies have said this protest is a case of “anarchists” in the streets.

SONAL, PROTESTER:

"If you, [the government], are right, then talk to us openly. Let us speak to Gyanesh Kumar. Let Modi come forward and talk. Why are you not allowing this? What are you trying to hide?"

With competing narratives not going anywhere, and these protesters saying they’re here to stay, it’s possible turbulence ahead for the world’s most populous country.

Hank Hsu and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.

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