A 30-foot-tall cockroach effigy will join Ravan at a Delhi Ramlila this year. The Shree Keshav Ram Leela Committee said the insect represents filth and supports the Swachh Bharat campaign. Committee president Ashok Goel said, "Burning the cockroach effigy is meant to reinforce the message of the victory of cleanliness."

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Ravan, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad will have an unusual companion going up in flames at a Ramlila in Delhi this year: a 30-foot-tall cockroach.

The organising body behind the annual event, the Shree Keshav Ram Leela Committee, said the decision was not politically motivated, adding that the insect represented "filth and dirt". The committee said the initiative is part of the Swachh Bharat and Swachh Delhi campaigns.

"Burning the cockroach effigy is meant to reinforce the message of the victory of good over evil and cleanliness," Ashok Goel, the committee president and a BJP MLA, told PTI.

He added that the "cockroach" will also feature among the 'asuras' in Ravan's army. The event will be held in Delhi's Pitampura.

The Ramlila event in Pitampura comes in the wake of the wake of the ongoing Cockroach Janata Party's (CJP) protests in Delhi over the resignation demand of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The BJP MLA said that the committee has burnt effigies on Naxalism and terrorism in the past.

"We have also, in the past, burned effigies representing various afflictions plaguing our nation, such as Naxalism or terrorism. This year, our committee has decided to burn an effigy of a cockroach, a symbol of filth, at the Keshav Ramlila Committee grounds (NSP). Our goal is to eliminate filth from three areas: our homes, our immediate surroundings, and society at large," he told ANI.

As the traditional effigies are set ablaze on the occasion of Dusshera, the cockroach will join the ritual as a message indicating the importance of cleanliness. Burning the cockroach effigy is meant to reinforce the message of the victory of good over evil and cleanliness, Ashok Goel said.

Opposition parties and student organisations are on roads protesting over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.