Actor Prakash Raj has joined the Cockroach Janata Party at their Chalo Sansad march in New Delhi. The actor, who joined the protest at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, waved the Constitution during the march after giving a speech. Prakash has been vocal in his support of CJP, demanding Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over alleged NEET paper irregularities from the get-go.
Prakash Raj joins the Chalo Sansad march
On Monday, Prakash joined the march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament as the Monsoon session kicked off. A video from the protest shows him speaking to the large crowd protesting the cause from a vehicle with a loudspeaker. As the protesters shouted ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (long live the revolution), Prakash waved the Indian Constitution to the crowd as a CJP member held a portrait of Bhagat Singh.
On Sunday, actors Prakash Raj, Shabana Azmi and Poonam Pandey turned up in person at Jantar Mantar to support the cause. Prakash posted a video of himself joining the CJP members on stage, showing the crowd chanting for their cause. Shabana, in a tender moment, kissed the hand of a protester who had been on a hunger strike for days. Poonam spoke to the press and reminded people that the protest wasn’t about politics or religion, but about students whose lives were affected by alleged discrepancies in the NEET exams.
On Monday morning, Shabana and Prakash helped students who were on an indefinite hunger strike with Sonam Wangchuk break their fast. Celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan, Sonakshi Sinha, Chinmayi Sripaada, and others have shown their solidarity with Wangchuk online.
CJP alleges Abhijeet Dipke detained by police
On Monday afternoon, the CJP claimed that their founder, Abhijeet Dipke, had been detained by the police and alleged that security personnel used force against peaceful protesters. In a post on X, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das urged MPs to stand with the students. “Dipke has been picked up by the police,” he wrote. This comes after Wangchuk was whisked away from the protest site and taken to the hospital by the police on Saturday.
Thousands of students, activists, and professionals gathered at Jantar Mantar and around for a march to Parliament on the opening day of the Monsoon Session. According to PTI, the police used baton charges and tear gas shells to scatter the protesters, many of whom breached the barricades erected across central Delhi. Despite that, videos show protesters refusing to back down till their demands are met.