NEW DELHI June 6 — Indian police tightened security in New Delhi on Saturday ahead of a protest by the satirical “Cockroach People’s Party”, over alleged irregularities in major examinations.

The parody “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) – a play on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – has won millions of followers on social media since its launch last month.

The movement emerged after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likened young people who criticised the government to “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a court hearing, sparking outrage among the youth. Kant later said his comments were taken out of context.

CJP’s popularity has soared, using the slogan “a political front for the youth, by the youth, for the youth”.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke arrived in the Indian capital from the United States on Saturday morning, after earlier announcing plans to seek police permission for a peaceful protest.

“We have to lead this movement with love and peace,” Dipke – a 30-year-old Boston University graduate and former political communications strategist for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – wrote on social media.

Dipke has called for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has faced criticism over the irregularities, including paper leaks and technical glitches.

India tightly regulates social media content, and some of the CJP’s social media handles have been blocked.

But its Instagram handle, still online in India, has more than 22 million followers – more than double the BJP’s nine million followers on the same site, as well as the main opposition Congress Party’s 13 million followers.

On Saturday, security was heightened at the airport as well as the Jantar Mantar protest site, with steel barricades set up at key points.

Riot control vehicles and detention vans were also deployed, AFP journalists saw.

In a post on Instagram earlier this week, Dipke said the future of India’s youth was “getting ruined”.

Despite rapid economic growth, millions of people in the country still struggle to find stable and well-paying jobs, fuelling discontent among the youth. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his historic milestone of becoming the country’s longest-serving elected prime minister.

In a Facebook post today, Anwar said the achievement reflects Modi’s years of dedicated public service and leadership in advancing India’s development, prosperity and standing on the global stage.

“Heartiest congratulations to PM Modi on this historic milestone of becoming India’s longest-serving elected prime minister,” he said.

Modi has been serving as Prime Minister since May 2014.

Anwar said Malaysia values its close and longstanding friendship with India and looks forward to continuing cooperation to strengthen bilateral ties and expand opportunities for the peoples of both countries.

“I wish PM Modi continued success and the people of India continued peace, progress and prosperity,” he said. — Bernama

NEW DELHI, June 3 — At least 21 people, including 18 foreign nationals, were killed in a fire ‌at a hotel in Delhi today, police and broadcaster CNN-News18 said, in one of the worst such incidents in the national capital since 2022. The dead included people from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique and Liberia, the broadcaster said.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the nationalities of the victims. Several people had jumped out of the burning building in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar to escape the flames, witnesses said, with residents dragging mattresses from a nearby store to try to break their fall.

“People spread mattresses, and a woman from the third floor jumped on it with a little kid,” witness Sher Khan said.

Television footage showed two people jumping from a higher floor ‌of the building as it was engulfed in flames, with smoke billowing out.

Local people who ⁠helped in the initial rescue said the ⁠fire broke out on the ground and first floors of ⁠the four-storey building, trapping those on higher ⁠floors.

“There is a ⁠mattress shop here... We took the mattresses from there and laid them on the road to help those who were jumping out of the building,” Wasim Raja, a local resident, told news ⁠agency ANI.

A police officer walks in-between security tapes at the spot after a fire at a hotel in New Delhi June 3, 2026. — Reuters pic

Fire may have started in restaurant

The fire broke out a little before 9am (0330 GMT/11am Malaysian time), and eight fire tenders were dispatched to douse the blaze, police said in a statement.

The fire was extinguished around midday, a Reuters witness said.

“Through the coordinated efforts of police, fire services, and other emergency responders, more than 40 persons have been rescued and shifted to ⁠nearby hospitals for medical treatment,” police said.

“It is with profound sorrow that 21 persons have been declared dead in this tragic incident,” it said.

A spokesperson at the ⁠state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences told Reuters the hospital had received 13 patients, two of ⁠whom were ⁠critical.

“There was reportedly a restaurant operating on the ground floor of the building ... it is most likely that the fire was connected to that restaurant,” local administration official Jitendra Kumar told reporters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‌expressed his condolences for the loss of lives in a post on X. “Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected,” he said. — Reuters

NEW DELHI, June 1 — India gave a red-carpet welcome on today to Myanmar’s junta leader-turned President Min Aung Hlaing—his first trip abroad since becoming civilian leader—with talks focusing on security and trade.

The former military chief met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, where they shook hands outside New Delhi’s sprawling Hyderabad House.

Modi told the Myanmar leader that “India remains Myanmar’s trusted neighbour, a reliable partner and steadfast first responder in times of crisis”, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.

Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as Myanmar’s president in April, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after snatching power in a military coup.

Modi also “reaffirmed India’s readiness to support peace and dialogue in Myanmar”, Jaiswal added.

New Delhi’s top career diplomat, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, told reporters after the meeting that discussions included border security and the impact of the civil war in Myanmar, which borders India’s northeastern states.

“Stability and peace in Myanmar is obviously a major interest for India,” Misri said.

“Not just for the security of the northeast and the safety and security of people living along the 1,643-kilometre (1,020-mile) long border that we have with them, but also for our interests—such as connectivity to Southeast Asia,” he said.

But he also stressed that any solution to the conflict in Myanmar would have to come from its citizens themselves.

Cybercrime 

“Eventually, the difficulties that face Myanmar will have to be sorted out by the people of Myanmar talking amongst themselves,” he said.

“This will have to be a Myanmar-led solution and a Myanmar-owned solution.”

India has long supported plans for infrastructure initiatives to link India’s landlocked northeast to the Bay of Bengal through Myanmar, as well as a highway to Thailand—routes that cut through areas of conflict.

“Obviously, in these circumstances, it’s a little difficult to meet preset targets and dates,” he said.

Bilateral trade was more than US$2 billion in 2025-2026, according to New Delhi.

India also discussed cybercrime, and Misri said that New Delhi had repatriated more than 2,400 Indians from cyberscam centres in Myanmar in the past year, with around 150 “still stuck” in the country.

“Our engagement with Myanmar is not intended to be a commentary on the internal political arrangements in that country,” he said.

“We have always proceeded on the principle that sustained dialogue is what is important and what is an imperative for India as a neighbour,” he added.

“Disengagement only produces a vacuum that others go on to fill, to our detriment—and those others have no interest in democracy, I can assure you about that,” he said, without giving further details.

Min Aung Hlaing arrived in India on Saturday, first stopping in the eastern state of Bihar, with a visit to the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Bodh Gaya—where believers say that the Buddha attained enlightenment.

He is expected to hold talks with business representatives during his five-day visit and will travel to the financial hub Mumbai. — AFP

Cockroach Janta party began as online joke but is growing into one of the most unexpected challenges to country’s rightwing government

The call out to the youth of India was simple: “Get ready to swarm the streets of Delhi with peaceful and loving dissent.” They came in their thousands.

The weekend marked the first public protest of the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), a movement that began as an online joke, but which has swiftly grown into one of the most unexpected challenges to the indomitable power of the country’s rightwing Narendra Modi government – driven by millions of discontented and disillusioned young people.

NEW DELHI, June 6 — The founder of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to lead a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, taking the country’s largest online youth movement to the streets for the first time.

Abhijeet Dipke, 30, who has lived in the United States for the past two years, had said his family and friends feared he could be arrested on his return to India.

Dozens of police officers gathered near Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi on Saturday, barricading some of the surrounding roads as protesters shouted slogans demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Modi’s government has blocked the movement’s X account in the country, a move the Cockroach Janta Party has challenged in a Delhi court. Senior cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju has accused the group of seeking followers from arch-enemy Pakistan and the “anti-India gang”.

The group, which has amassed roughly 22 million Instagram followers since launching in mid-May, is the largest online expression of dissent against the Hindu nationalist Modi’s 12-year-old rule, fuelled by persistently high youth unemployment and recurring leaks of examination papers that threaten to derail the careers of millions of students.

Political analysts say the group’s popularity has begun to dent Modi’s image despite his party’s recent victories in key state elections, even as wider frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages brought by the Iran war.

Police used loudspeakers to direct people to Saturday’s designated protest site.

“This is a peaceful movement for the youth of the nation,” said movement spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka. Dipke is “ready for a long and big day in India’s politics”, Ranka said.

India has nearly 400 million people aged 15 to 29, and generating non-farm jobs for them remains one of its biggest challenges despite rapid growth. The urban youth jobless rate was nearly 14 per cent in April. Many educated young people are also stuck in low-paid or insecure jobs that do not match their skills, economists say. — Reuters

The G-7 summit, which brings together seven of the world’s most industrialized democracies, will gauge this week the depth of the rift in the West — the division between the United States and its traditional allies. The summit runs from Monday through Wednesday in the French town of Évian-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The eve of the meeting was marked by a protest in Geneva, attended by thousands, during which there were acts of vandalism and clashes with police.

Seguir leyendo