Lyricist Javed Akhtar on Friday questioned whether residents of Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, who objected to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest over noise pollution, would raise similar concerns when political parties hold rallies at the venue.
Akhtar said he welcomed the residents’ concerns about noise pollution but suggested that such objections should also be applied to political gatherings. He made the remarks in a post on X as the CJP held a protest at Shivaji Park demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The protest was organised by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke as part of a nationwide agitation. The group has alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and called for greater accountability in the functioning of the Election Commission.
Mumbai Police had earlier denied permission for the gathering at Shivaji Park, citing concerns including noise pollution, traffic congestion and disruption to public movement. Despite this, Dipke announced a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ at the venue.
The controversy surrounding the CJP protest comes after a report alleged that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to certain decisions of the poll panel over a 10-month period. The reported concerns included changes to Form 6, access to electoral-roll databases and decisions involving voter additions, deletions and restoration.
The report led to a political controversy, with opposition parties demanding accountability from the Election Commission and seeking the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar. The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion that the reported differences indicated a lack of consensus within the poll panel.
The ECI said that individual views, observations and suggestions are part of the deliberations of a multi-member constitutional body. It maintained that final decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), were taken unanimously.
Meanwhile, a separate protest was also being held at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar by student activists and AAP leaders, who were demanding Kumar’s resignation. Reports said more than 500 protesters had been detained in Delhi, including AAP leaders Atishi and Sanjay Singh.
The protests in Mumbai and Delhi have brought renewed focus on electoral-roll revisions, the functioning of the Election Commission and the rules governing public demonstrations. Akhtar’s comments have added to the debate over how concerns such as noise pollution and disruption to public life are applied to different kinds of gatherings.
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