CJP leaders say Modi’s government is creating ‘atmosphere of fear’ after they were among thousands detained on Saturday

The leaders of India’s Cockroach movement accused the Narendra Modi government of declaring “war with its own citizens” and vowed to continue with their protest after being released from police detention, as anti-government unrest rocked Delhi for a second day.

The three leaders of the youth-led Cockroach Janta party (CJP) were taken into custody on Saturday when thousands were detained by police as authorities went to extreme lengths to prevent young people taking to the streets to protest.

By Sunday morning, a magistrate had ordered that the three CJP leaders, Abhijit Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, be released on the condition that they would not “breach peace” for a year.

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Saturday’s protest was called by the CJP alongside student groups and civil society leaders to demand the resignation of India’s election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, who is accused of an “assault on democracy” by overseeing an exercise that has deleted 130 million names from India’s electoral roll.

Kumar is accused of implementing the voter roll revision to help Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) entrench its power and to disenfranchise minority groups such as Muslims who are not traditionally part of the BJP’s voter base.