A heavy police deployment in Delhi drew criticism from film industry figures on Saturday.
CJP had planned a protest at Jantar Mantar against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision.
Prakash Raj, Anurag Kashyap, Apurva Asrani, Vikramaditya Motwane, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Vir Das reacted on social media.
Delhi saw a strong police clampdown and tight security on Saturday (October 10) as the Cockroach Janata Party's (CJP) planned protest at Jantar Mantar drew fire from several film-industry figures.
The CJP organised the protest to oppose the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and sought Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the revised voter roll. Police detained key party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with hundreds of protesters and journalists who tried to assemble in Central Delhi.
The detentions set off a stream of reactions online from actors, directors, editors and musicians. Many of the posts condemned the scale of the police response and the stopping of protesters before they could reach the site.
Prakash Raj reacts to Delhi police crackdown
Prakash Raj turned to X with a cartoon by Satish Acharya and captioned it, “How long will you escape from Citizens dissent #justasking.”
He also posted a video on X about the detentions of Abhijeet, Saurav and Ashutosh from a flight. “What is this hungama? Detaining youngsters from the flights and homes? Not even letting them reaching the protest site? You have not arrested our voice! You have arrested yourself. This country will not let you kill democracy, it is a long fight and we will continue to ask questions… Game on! The nation is watching (sic),” Raj said.
The previous day, he posted another video on X after reports of train cancellations and a large police presence. In it, he quoted a line from Singham, where he played the antagonist Jaykant Shikre, and used it to speak to the public.
Filmmakers join in
Anurag Kashyap posted on Instagram, “Do Darpok, 40,000 ghulam, Lakhon bahadur (2 of them scared, 40,000 of them slaves, and lakhs of bravehearts).”
Kashyap also asked Instagram users to watch All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora live. Bora led the protest at Dilli Haat with hundreds of people before police detained her as well.
Apurva Asrani wrote, “Tell me this is not dictatorship.” In the caption, he added, “The end of democracy”.
Vikramaditya Motwane posted a series of Instagram Stories against the detention of protesters in Delhi.
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub put up a Hindi version of a poem by German theatre practitioner and playwright Bertolt Brecht on X in support of the protesters. Vir Das also weighed in on X, sharing a screenshot explaining the Streisand Effect and implying the response had only drawn more attention to the protests.
Vishal Dadlani's reaction
Dadlani also posted a video on Instagram about the crackdown.
“At present, the whole world is watching that the system can go to such lengths to save one person. They are going against its own people, their right to protest in this country. 23 battalions have been called for the crackdown. The entire city is at a standstill, with cancellations of trains and metros. Only to save one person! So think for yourself what this person must have done for this system and how the system has been broken down to save him.” Dadlani said in an Instagram post.
Shirish Kunder slams crackdown
Shirish Kunder used X to mock the use of force against protesters. “How long can you survive if you have to use force to protect yourself from your own people?” Kunder wrote.
“When even the kids start mocking you, it's time to realise that absolutely no one is scared of you anymore,” he added.
