“The Modi government has stopped us from going to Jantar Mantar … every street for you today is Jantar Mantar.” Protests demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resumed Friday, with more than 100 people detained as student groups, trade unionists and left political parties marched on the commission headquarters in defiance of the Modi government’s restrictions on protests in the capital. Economist Jayati Ghosh said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls that stripped workers across India of voting rights has already impacted their wages and access to welfare programs, with people in West Bengal “literally starving to death” as they are denied state support. Demands for Kumar’s ouster and that the SIR be withdrawn pose a growing challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, as students, workers, and opposition parties unite around what they say is the deliberate disenfranchisement of millions of minorities and poor people.

From BreakThrough News via This RSS Feed.