Can India’s ‘cockroach’ movement oust Modi’s election chief?

New Delhi, India – Central parts of the Indian capital turned into a ghost town on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s police detained hundreds of protesters, as the ‘cockroach’ movement that ousted the country’s education minister this past summer joined opposition parties in demanding the resignation of India’s elections chief.The government shut down metro stations leading to central Delhi and suspended internet services. Heavily deployed government forces blocked all entries to Parliament Street and the Jantar Mantar protest strip – the stage of the youth movement that forced out Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan just two months ago.Saurav Yadav, a 24-year-old musician from Gwalior, a city in central India nearly 335km (210 miles) from New Delhi, took an overnight bus to join the protest, called by the cockroach movement and joined by a spectrum of opposition parties and unions.But as Yadav approached the site – his first time in the Indian capital – he was dragged away by two policemen, even as he held the tricolour national flag in his hands. “This government is managing the elections. Just imagine, the only thing that gives them power is managed!” Yadav told Al Jaze...