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This spring, the Indian government announced that millions of young people would have to retake a medical-school entry exam because questions had been leaked. Some students, who had prepared for months, were so overcome with anxiety that they committed suicide. Many others took their frustration and outrage to the streets, giving rise to a movement that became known as the Cockroach Janta Party. The group took its name from the chief justice of the Indian Supreme Court, Surya Kant, who compared young people to parasites and cockroaches. The CJP led protests through the end of July, and ultimately forced India’s education minister to resign.

This month, protests resumed, now over the removal of more than a hundred and thirty million people from India’s voter rolls. Previous revisions of the voter rolls had been bureaucratic in nature, seeking to confirm addresses or remove names of the deceased.…