IMAGE: Protesters raise slogans during the protest over the Special Intensive Revision in Hyderabad, October 24, 2026. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points

• 'The only avenue that is now open for expressing our dissent, questioning, and opposition is the street.'
• 'Whatever protest, whatever dissent we express will be peaceful, Gandhian and Satyagraha.'

Political economist Parakala Prabhakar has been travelling all around India speaking against the lack of transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission, SIR and the way elections are conducted in the last few years.

He also participated in the protests in Hyderabad after the Modi government did not allow anyone to protest at Jantar Mantar.

His new slogan is, every street in India is a Jantar Mantar, every Indian is a Jantar Mantar, and every protest is a Jantar Mantar.

"Protests are the only way we can raise our voices and put pressure on the government," Mr Prabhakar tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.

You have been speaking and writing on SIR, vote theft and the Election Commission's conduct. Why did you decide to participate in the protests now?

So far, some of us have been talking and trying to tell people what exactly is happening in India.

Earlier, when I started this, not many people understood the depth of the issue and what the significance is.

Now people have understood the issue, and there is not much information that they don't know.

It has reached a stage that more than knowing what went wrong, people feel they should come out and stop this wrongdoing.

The situation is such that the government is not allowing any discussion in the legislatures on the wrongdoings in relation to the Election Commission of India. The impeachment motion by the Opposition was not even admitted. It was rejected without giving reasons.

Most of the media -- I am not saying everybody -- but most of the media is not giving any space to this kind of a discourse.

Then, political parties are focused mainly on elections and election outcomes.

So, to people like me, the feeling has come that the only avenue that is now open for expressing our dissent, questioning, and opposition is the street.

IMAGE: Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar, with party supporters, stages a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, October 28, 2026. Photograph: ANI Photo

But the government has been quite ruthless in the way it suppressed the protests.

Of course, they will do that, and they have done that in the past.

If you remember in Parliament, a slew of bills was passed by the government by suspending almost 100 MPs.

In what way that is different from what they did in Jantar Mantar?

In Parliament, they did not use lathi charge and tear gas. Otherwise, it's almost the same.

You mean the same kind of suppression?

Yes, the legislature is suppressed, protests are suppressed, and the media is suppressed.

A lot of places are now closed for protests. It is very difficult to hold meetings in many parts of the country these days. So, we only have a very small window.

But we are very particular that whatever protest, whatever dissent we express will be peaceful, Gandhian and Satyagraha. This was uncompromising.

Because all other avenues are getting closed, protests are the only way we can raise our voices and put pressure on the government.

IMAGE: Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) supporters protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Bhopal, October 27, 2026. Photograph: ANI Photo

Do you think protests can put a pressure on the government? For example, young protesters were not even allowed to go to Jantar Mantar where the public could protest.

That is why I said Jantar Mantar is not a physical space in the country's capital.

Jantar Mantar is any place where a dissent or protest is expressed.

Even an individual who is protesting and expressing dissent is a walking Jantar Mantar.

Every mind which is expressing dissent and questioning is a Jantar Mantar.

If every protesting site and individual and every mind is a Jantar Mantar, how many Jantar Mantars can they denote?

IMAGE: Protestors raise slogans against Gyanesh Kumar during the protest in New Delhi, October 10, 2026. Photograph: Amit/ANI Photo

Are you hopeful? Do you think protests in every street can put pressure on this government?

Yes. Because not only the protests are seen by the government, but they are seen also by the international community.

The whole globe is watching.

When something is happening in France, are we not talking about it?

When something is happening in Spain, are we not talking about it?

When Black Lives Matter happened in America, did we not talk about it?

Like we talked about what is happening in the world, the world also talks about what is happening in India.

So, it will definitely bring up the public opinion not only in India but everywhere in the world.

Every democracy loving person would see what is happening in India.

Look at the kind of things that are coming out every day.

Thousands of votes being deleted for no reason. Form 7 is being submitted by not just people but by the Election Commission's own officials.

In Karnataka, 1 crore voters are deleted.

Another interesting thing in Karnataka is, for instance, there are two people -- you and me -- and I file Form 7 saying you are dead, and you file Form 7 saying I am dead!

There is one more interesting thing in Karnataka which The Hindu has brought out is, there are at least 160 people filing affidavits about their own death.

This is the kind of mockery that is happening in India in the name of the so-called purification of electoral roll.

IMAGE: All India Students Association national President Neha Bora, third from left, during the Citizens' March from India Gate to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

How charged was the atmosphere at the protests you had participated in?

It was a big thing in Delhi which is understandable because it had happened before.

Because we wanted the whole country to be a Jantar Mantar, we organised a protest in Hyderabad. And we were all surprised by the wonderful turnout.

So many people came; young people, old people, so many women, from every cross-section, from every walk of life.

We formed a huge human chain. The kind of energy that we felt was unbelievable.

IMAGE: Parakala Prabhakar

Does the turnout give you hope?

Yes. Similar protests happened in Bangalore, Chennai, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai and even small towns like Vijayawada.

A lot of people are coming out now and it is gaining momentum and traction. It is now snowballing.

My feeling is, this has now reached a point, which I would call unstoppable.

Initially, people didn't believe that such illegality and deletion of names could happen at such a large scale. There was disbelief.

Now, from every state and every area, the details are coming out.

When it happens in their own state, in their own city, in their own town, in their own area, they see it with their own eyes.

I will tell you why Hyderabad reacted this way. I will give you two examples.

There is an assembly constituency called Malakpet where the total polling in the 2023 assembly elections was 132,000.

In SIR, the number of deletions was 145,000 which is more than the entire total of 2023 polling.

There is another constituency called Yakutpura where the entire polling in 2023 was 147,000 or so.

Now the total SIR deletions are 152,000!

Will people not understand this?

Can you believe it?

So, will Hyderabad not move? It will move.

Because they saw it happening and it is not an abstract thing for them anymore. It is reality at their doorstep.

The kind of momentum that you see on the ground is because they see it in their own streets and in their own towns and in their own names too.

Do you expect something positive happening in the coming months?

Of course. I am very hopeful.

I am very optimistic as it has become unstoppable.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff