The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had called for a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on October 10, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. However, the planned demonstration was preceded by heightened security across the national capital and the detention of several CJP leaders. Meanwhile, several celebrities have voiced their support for the protesters, with actor Richa Chadha sharing a ‘hack’ to avoid facial recognition.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap shared a post that read, “Do darpok, 40,000 gulaam, lakhon bahadur (Two cowards, 40,000 slaves, lakhs of courageous people). Before Monday’s protest, the CJP had held a protest at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on October 2. Ahead of the protest, Richa Chadha shared a video of a makeup tutorial for evading facial recognition. The actor asked people living in Delhi to participate in the demonstration, noting that restrictions on routes into the capital have prevented people from outside the capital from entering central Delhi. Several other members of the film industry have also voiced support for the CJP’s protest. He wrote on X, “How long will you escape from Citizens dissent #justasking. Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane has also been among those expressing support for the protest. Meanwhile, filmmaker Apurva Asrani reacted to the arrest of CJP leaders and called it ‘death of democracy’. Vishal Dadlani also slammed the government for removing security forces from sensitive areas like Jammu and Kashmir and deploying them in Delhi to stop protestors. It saw several prominent names from the entertainment industry join the protest, including Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah, singer-composer Vishal Dadlani, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj and others.
Actor Prakash Raj, who had also attended the earlier protest in Mumbai, questioned the government’s response to public dissent.
