BJP Keralam president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has alleged that the ongoing protests in Delhi by the Congress, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and Left parties — ostensibly demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over voter-roll deletions — are in reality an open "Bangladesh-style" regime change attempt aimed at weakening and toppling India's democratically elected government. The opposition parties named in the allegation have not responded to it.
What Chandrasekhar alleged
Chandrasekhar made the claims on Monday in several posts on X, contending that the Congress, Left parties and CJP were united by their "hatred" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their "insecurity" about him.
"What is happening in Delhi is an open attempt at regime change, 'Bangladesh-style', by a desperate dynast @RahulGandhi and his coalition of the CPM, the AAP-backed CJP and Marxist-Leninist fringe elements," he wrote.
"This has nothing to do with democracy, voter rolls, the CEC or SIR. The aim is to weaken and topple a democratically elected government," he added.
What the protesters are demanding
The Congress, CJP and Left parties are holding protests in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in connection with the alleged removal of over 13 crore (130 million) voters from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral list.
The CJP, which has the backing of the opposition parties, is led by a foreign-educated public relations graduate and others who have openly supported the Congress and its leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. The group previously protested over the NEET exam paper leak, which eventually led to Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as Union Education Minister.
According to the reports, the Congress, CJP and the Left parties have not responded to Chandrasekhar's "regime change" allegation.
How the controversy has escalated
The "regime change" charge and counter-charge have been building for days. On October 17, Union minister Kiren Rijiju shared a montage of video clips on X in which leaders allied with opposition forces had spoken about "regime change" while criticising the Centre over the SIR voter-roll cleanup. "Look at these people, trying to bring about a regime change. Listen carefully: India is not Bangladesh," Rijiju wrote.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor waded into the row to reject the analogy: "I think that India is not Bangladesh and India is not France. I don't see these analogies as particularly relevant. We would never condone any of the violence... that has occurred in France." He said the opposition believes in and supports only peaceful protest, and insisted the demand is for free and fair elections.
"What is troubling today is that large numbers of people have been cut from the electoral rolls as the result of a completely troublesome, irregular and partially illegal process. This is why we are calling for all this to be undone... It's a constitutional issue. It's not an issue of trying to topple a regime or anything like that," Tharoor said.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a plea by Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders over alleged large-scale voter deletions in the SIR. The Election Commission of India has denied all the allegations about the roll revision.
Why this matters
The fight has moved from procedure to intent: the opposition frames the protests as a constitutional demand for clean electoral rolls, while BJP leaders frame them as an extra-constitutional bid to destabilize an elected government. The Supreme Court's hearing on the opposition's voter-deletion plea may settle the underlying facts.
Watch: A short video explainer on the CJP's Delhi protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged voter-list irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision, covering what the protesters claim, how the Election Commission has responded, and why the agitation has become a national political controversy.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: The Economic Times | Deccan Herald | ThePrint (PTI) | NDTV