Mumbai sees 2nd day of pro-CJP protests; Raj slams govt, Sena (UBT) to give legal aid to activists

Mumbai, For second straight day, Mumbai witnessed protests by Opposition parties and others on Tuesday in support of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and to denounce police crackdown on its stir in Delhi.

Thousands of people participated in a march to Parliament on Monday called by the CJP on the first day of the Monsoon session to push for the resignation of Pradhan over the NEET fiasco, but were prevented by Delhi Police from moving ahead, leading to violent clashes and stone pelting. Police used batons and tear gas to disperse marchers.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) staged a protest at Shivaji Park in Dadar, central Mumbai, in which party president Raj Thackeray's wife Sharmila also participated.


The Shiv Sena (UBT) held a separate demonstration in the Dongri area.

An elderly man at the Shivaji Park protest site told reporters that he travelled from Nivali in Akola district of east Maharashtra to Mumbai with an AC ticket to participate in the agitation and demand a clean education system.

"I wish I were younger to participate in this protest more actively, and if I die, my children shouldn't claim my body and bury me here," the man, who claimed to be 78 years old and a doctor, said in Hindi while expressing solidarity with the ongoing CJP-led protest in Delhi.

The man, who claimed to be a former lecturer, said he travelled to Mumbai despite his advancing age as he was convinced that students are fighting for a just cause.

"I want to stand in support of the demand for better doctors who serve people. I want to die for my child; that is why I came here," he said with conviction in his voice.

The elderly man rued most people are sitting at home and are hesitant to step out and take part in the agitation.

Tension prevailed in Mumbai's Chembur area after a group of local residents took out a protest march to express solidarity with the CJP's ongoing Delhi agitation over exam irregularities and tried to block a busy highway. The march was taken out by the residents of Siddharth Colony.

They tried to block the Eastern Express Highway to denounce the police action against the CJP-led demonstrators in the national capital, an official said.

But police personnel stopped the protesters before they could block the highway, following which a heated exchange of words took place between the two sides. The situation remained tense for some time as protesters raised slogans and demanded they be allowed to continue their stir, he said.

Police prevented any disruption to vehicular traffic on the busy arterial road, according to the official.

Protests were organised in several parts of the city on Monday as well.

MNS president Raj Thackeray slammed the Centre over the police crackdown on protesters demanding Pradhan's resignation during the CJP-organised 'Sansad Chalo' march, and said it appears the government itself has become "mentally unstable" due to the action.

In a post on X, Raj Thackeray said those in power seem obsessed with demonstrating to the world how they crush legitimate protests and take pleasure in showing it off to the other heads of state.

Who exactly is Pradhan that the government views his resignation as a personal failure? he asked.

"After witnessing the brutal lathi-charge against protesters yesterday, it appears the government itself has become mentally unstable and needs to be hospitalised," the MNS leader remarked .

When Manipur was in flames due to an ethnic conflict, the BJP government shielded the then-Chief Minister N Biren Singh in a similar fashion, he stated.

History will certainly remember that a students' protest was ruthlessly crushed during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MNS leader averred.

"If anyone desires such an image for him, and if Modi is willing to fall prey to it, then there is nothing more to be said," Raj Thackeray said.

The outcry of the nation's students is far more important than the egos of Pradhan and the government. The government must also realise that this protest is not merely about students or a single examination. There is a deep-seated anger against the establishment, he claimed.

"Anger is prevailing over how a single industrialist is being propped up and the entire nation is being handed over to him. How inflation has peaked. How forests are being razed to benefit contractors. How cities are suffocating under the guise of development and hospitals overflowing with patients. This outcry is against all these issues," the MNS leader asserted.

In a related development, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said FIRs were being registered in Mumbai against students and activists for staging protests in favour of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and educator Sonam Wangchuck.

He claimed 100 people have been detained so far by the police.

The former state minister said the party has undertaken an initiative to give legal aid to students and activists against whom FIRs have been registered or notices have been issued.

Such students and activists in Maharashtra can reach out to the party at shivsenaubtlegal@gmail.com, he said.

He urged advocates to represent in such cases pro-bono (without charge) and stand by students and activists.

Thackeray said protests seeking the removal of Pradhan took place even in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, but those agitations were not crushed like in India.

He asserted the BJP feels the pain when someone fights for improving education.

"The BJP is anti-national and anti-students," the Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged.