India's 'cockroach' youth protesters are set to return to Delhi streets despite jailed leaders and police crackdown

Thousands of supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party are expected to gather at Central Park in Delhi's Connaught Place district on Friday evening, defying police warnings and a last-minute closure of the venue. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has vowed to risk arrest himself, urging those who cannot reach the capital to raise the Indian flag wherever they are. The movement has deleted more than 130 million voters from electoral rolls at the heart of its demands, alongside calls for the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation.

The CJP began in May after India's chief justice compared unemployed young people to cockroaches — Dipke embraced the insult and built a movement from it.

Two CJP leaders were jailed for five days this week after demonstrating at Jantar Mantar, a protest site the authorities have declared off-limits.

Local traders have petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the rally, warning it would cause 'severe loss' after a similar weekend protest was crushed by police.