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Dozens gathered on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia to decry allegations of politically motivated election tampering in India and amplify a wave of youth-led demonstrations against its government.<\/p>\n
The protests have swept through the South Asian nation, demanding the election chief resign over the contentious removal of 130 million names from the country\u2019s voter roll. Critics say the removals could disenfranchise millions and entrench Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s power<\/a>, while Modi\u2019s government has denied any wrongdoing. <\/p>\n In recent weeks, police in New Delhi have cracked down on protesters, detaining opposition party members and the movement\u2019s youth leaders, who call themselves the \u201cCockroaches<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n On Saturday, about 25 people assembled at the bottom of the Philadelphia Museum of Art<\/a>\u2019s steps to draw attention to the escalating tensions and broaden the fight to safeguard democratic institutions. Many participants were part of the Philadelphia area\u2019s Indian diaspora. <\/p>\n The voter roll purge casts \u201cserious doubts about India\u2019s trajectory,\u201d said Ramya Devan, the event\u2019s organizer and a board member with the national chapter of the social justice organization <\/a>Hindus for Human Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: India\u2019s Cockroach protest movement leaders freed from detention, vow to continue demonstrations<\/a><\/p>\n The group held up signs that read \u201cSteal hearts, not votes\u201d and \u201cThe diaspora stands with India\u2019s students\u201d; chanted \u201cstand up, fight back\u201d; and sang protest songs. Similar actions were set to take place nationwide this weekend, from Los Angeles to New York City<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cVoting rights are under attack in this country as well,\u201d Devan said. \u201cSo we\u2019re here to be inspired by the youth in India and stand up for democracy everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n Revisions to the voter roll began last summer as what the government called an overdue cleanup of records, requiring people to submit multiple documents to prove they were eligible to vote. The review of voters is ongoing. <\/p>\n \u201c[India] cannot call itself a democracy until everybody has the right to vote, and if you are taking it away, then it does put the trust that we have in our institutions at stake,\u201d said Kaustubh Naik, a 35-year-old doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>. Naik said he participated in similar social justice movements while a student in India but nothing at this scale. <\/p>\n A Gen Z government-accountability movement, the \u201cCockroach Janta Party,\u201d has led the campaign for free and fair elections in India. The Cockroaches started as a satirical campaign this summer after India\u2019s chief justice<\/a> compared unemployed youths to parasites. But young Indians have since embraced the pejorative as a powerful symbol of resistance, Devan said. Protests led by the group forced the resignation of India\u2019s education minister. <\/p>\n \u201cMore people are now realizing the pitfalls of this regime, and they\u2019re coming out in protest,\u201d Naik said. <\/p>\n Panna Iyer, 50, of Malvern<\/a>, hopes the movement puts pressure on Indian officials to fix the election system and reverse what she called the \u201cdownslide of democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThere are no kings in a democracy, there are no crowns in a democracy \u2014 it\u2019s for the people, by the people,\u201d Iyer said. Just hours earlier, the coalition of progressive groups behind the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests rallied at Philadelphia City Hall<\/a> to encourage people to vote in the U.S. midterm election. <\/a><\/p>\n