Mumbai: Despite the police’s denial of permission, over 10,000 protesters gathered at Dadar’s Shivaji Park on Friday as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) held a demonstration against alleged electoral roll deletions, demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
The crowd, estimated between 9,000 and 10,000 by Mumbai police’s special branch around 4 pm when the protest began, remained largely peaceful, marked by orderly movement and a rapport between demonstrators and security personnel, who managed the venue with dedicated public address systems while receiving claps and cheers from the gathering. Brushing aside CM Devendra Fadnavis ’ warnings of sending them to jail, Dipke said, “Fadnavis said we would have to spend 3 days in jail without bail, but to him I say: You are the chief minister of Maharashtra who has a certain legacy and culture, and threatening young children this way is wrong. Even if you keep us in jail for 3 months, not 3 days, I’ll keep coming again and again and again.
Urging the crowd to “fight even for the people you don’t know,” Dipke concluded his address with a line from the Maharashtra state anthem: “Delhi che hi takht rakhito Maharashtra mazha. ” Police deployed heavy bandobast in and around Shivaji Park to maintain law and order. Invoking national icons, Dipke said, “They thought once Gandhi is shot he will be finished, but he is immortal; there is a Gandhi in each and everyone here. He said govt repeatedly made citizens stand in lines, stating, “They taught us what democracy was, they taught us about our rights, about elections, about democracy, and what Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is. Lyricist Javed Akhtar stated on X he was glad some residents had raised concerns and added he was “sure” they would similarly object when a party organised a public meeting at the Park.
If Gyanu doesn’t go, all the Gen Z of the country will go to Delhi to protest. Barricades were erected to prevent vehicles from approaching the protest site, while police personnel managed the crowd to avoid any untoward incident. As people arrived at the protest site in small groups, police were able to maintain smooth flow of traffic in the area, outsite the protest site. This country is dependent on ideals of Gandhi. In the same way, Ambedkar is the backbone and Nehru is the mind of India. Whereas this govt only wants us to stand in line, first during demonetisation and now for Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Several Shivaji Park residents cited noise and disruption of normal daily life to oppose CJP’s stir.
Compared to CJP’s earlier protest in June, Friday’s event demonstrated better organization, featuring a dedicated team of digital content creators and trained marshals managing crowd flow as patriotic numbers played in the background.