Tushar Gandhi Detained for Eight Hours, Released; Aaditya Thackeray Leads Opposition Protest in Mumbai

Activist Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was detained by Mumbai Police on Saturday along with several other activists and opposition leaders ahead of a planned protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He was released after eight hours in detention.

The proposed demonstration was scheduled to take place at the historic August Kranti Maidan. Police took preventive action ahead of the protest, deploying personnel across Mumbai and detaining several youth leaders and demonstrators, including Abhijit and Saurabh.

Tushar Gandhi was detained in the Bandra area between 9.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. and initially taken to the D N Nagar Police Station. However, when opposition leaders arrived there to seek his release, they were informed that he was no longer at the facility.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, including MLA Aaditya Thackeray, MP Sanjay Raut and MLC Anil Parab, reached the police station as protesters gathered outside and raised slogans such as “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” (Vote thief, leave the throne).

Police subsequently clarified that Tushar Gandhi had been shifted to the Borivali Police Station. Officials arranged a phone call between Aaditya Thackeray and Gandhi to ease tensions. After remaining in detention for around eight hours, Gandhi was released, and Borivali Police later dropped him at his residence.

Addressing the media and party workers, Aaditya Thackeray criticised the government, accusing it of suppressing young people and peaceful dissent through what he described as authoritarian measures.

“An emergency has been unofficially imposed. Why are they so afraid of the youth generation?” he asked.

Thackeray said Tushar Gandhi had been planning a peaceful protest but was detained beforehand. He also alleged that patriotic citizens were being arrested and asserted that change was inevitable. Describing the political situation as a direct contest between “BJP versus India”, he intensified his criticism of the ruling dispensation.

Thackeray also announced a strategy for opposition parties, saying they would reach any location where their members were detained.

“From today, our allied parties have decided that wherever someone is detained, we will go there. If even a single hair of our workers is touched, we will not sit quietly,” he said, adding that the opposition would not back down until those detained were released.

Police deployment remained heavy at key transit points and police stations across Mumbai amid the political tensions.

The protests over the demand for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation also spread to other parts of Maharashtra, including Solapur, following demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised a torch rally in Solapur, with participants raising slogans demanding the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation. The rally began at the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and proceeded to the Zilla Parishad.

During the demonstration, CPI(M) members alleged that Left party workers were facing lathi charges and that leaders were being detained while travelling by air. They described the situation as an undeclared emergency and warned that protests would continue across the country wherever police attempted to stop demonstrators.

CPI(M) leader M. A. Shaikh also issued a warning, saying that if Gyanesh Kumar was so important to those in power, his party would not rest until Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also made to resign.