A 30-foot-tall effigy of a "cockroach" will be burnt alongside those of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghnad at a Ramlila in Delhi this year.
The move to include a cockroach in a Ramlila this year has sparked claims that it could be a reference to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), one of the main groups involved in the ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
The Shree Keshav Ram Leela Committee, which will organise the upcoming modified Ramlila in Pitampura, said that the insect represents "filth and dirt", and burning it was linked to the Swachh Bharat and Swachh Delhi campaigns.
Ashok Goel, the committee president and a BJP MLA, told PTI that there were no political motivations behind the addition of a cockroach effigy to the Ramlila, and that the intention was only to reinforce the message of good and cleanliness over evil and filth.
The cockroach will also feature among the 'asuras' (demons) in Ravana's army, Goel said.
This comes after the CJP and its self-defined role as a pressure group dominated headlines earlier this year after protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar managed to bring about the resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak this year.
After calling off protests following his resignation, they resumed their agitation over the past few months over alleged electoral malpractices in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by CEC Kumar, alongside student groups like the All India Students' Association (AISA), and the Opposition INDIA bloc.
The CJP will next be seen on the streets at a 'Tiranga march', which is scheduled to be held at 5 PM at Central Park in Delhi's Connaught Place.
Though the Delhi High Court cleared the way for it to protest there on Friday, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) notified on Thursday that Central Park would remain closed to the public on October 16-17 due to "administrative reasons".
