Is Jantar Mantar 2.0 the Beginning of a Larger Agitation?
October 4, 2026
What happened in Mumbai on October 2 may have been only one day of protest, but the issues behind it are unlikely to disappear with the dispersal of the crowd. The protest was centred around concerns over the Election Commission, electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with protesters demanding accountability from Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. At the same time, similar mobilisation has been taking place across different parts of the country, with student groups, Opposition parties and civil society organisations raising concerns over the electoral process. Newsreel Asia spent the day at Mumbai Protest capturing the preparations, the police presence, conversations with protesters, the atmosphere on the streets and how the day unfolded. The speech of Cockroach Janta Party's leaders and sentiment of protestors seemed larger than the concerns regarding the electoral process. Will this lead to something bigger?