Actor Ranvir Shorey criticised the Cockroach Janata Party's (CJP) call for street protests in Delhi and stated that people should use courts, Parliament and other democratic institutions to raise their concerns instead of taking to the streets.
The actor's remarks come amid the controversy surrounding the detention of CJP leaders ahead of their planned demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Ranvir Shorey slams CJP's protest call
On Sunday (October 11), Ranvir took to X and shared a video of CJP spokesperson Sourav Das urging citizens to participate in the protest. Reacting to the video, the actor questioned the need for street demonstrations when legal and democratic avenues were available.
He wrote, "Show your numbers in Parliament and the ballot, not the streets! And if the way to those seems unjust, show the courts! That is the democratic way! Hijacking the streets and holding the public infrastructure and law and order machinery to ransom is the actual 'murder of democracy'!"
Ranvir further argued that protests should be a last resort in a democracy. He added, "Protests in a democracy are meant to be a last resort. Not a way to circumvent the judiciary’s or legislative domain! Your 'right to dissent' cannot turn into 7-days-a-week 'protests' that hijack the country and make life hell for the rest of us! Only anarchists, attention seekers or morons would protest without exercising the legal remedies already available."
The actor also responded to an X user who claimed that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) had been compromised. Appearing to mock the allegation, Ranvir wrote, "Ever-growing list: I am compromised, Other voters are compromised, Media is compromised, Parliament is compromised, PMO is compromised, CEC is compromised, SC is compromised…Only daphli banging, dubiously funded mobs of parties that didn’t win elections on the streets are believable."
Why is the CJP protesting?
The CJP, led by Abhijeet Dipke, had planned a demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on October 10, 2026. The party demanded the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Ahead of the planned demonstration, Delhi Police detained Dipke and two other CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, at Delhi airport shortly after they arrived from Mumbai. The three leaders were subsequently released, while protests continued in the national capital on Sunday.
On Monday, Ashutosh Ranka gave Delhi Police 24 hours to announce a date for a protest at Jantar Mantar. He warned that the party would decide its next course of action if the authorities failed to respond within the deadline.
Meanwhile, security arrangements have been strengthened in central Delhi ahead of a protest march to the Supreme Court led by the INDIA bloc.
Several Bollywood celebrities, including Huma Qureshi, Zayn Marie, Sonakshi Sinha and Vijay Varma, have criticised the authorities' handling of the protest.
