Uddhav Thackeray backed Prashant Bhushan's regime change call while addressing a journalists' gathering. He said the Opposition would resist any curbs on voting and protest rights.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai,Oct 18, 2026 02:01 IST
If the BJP-led Centre is taking away people's right to express themselves through voting and protests, then such a regime needs to be changed and the Opposition is standing up for it, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday.
He backed senior advocate Prashant Bhushan's "regime change" call.
"Police are assaulting youth and women, tearing their clothes. Such a regime needs to be buried," Thackeray said referring to alleged violence against those taking part in protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party and other parties in the national capital.
Addressing the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Patrakar Parishad, Thackeray asked if thousands of police personnel have been deployed in Delhi to "play dandia", a reference to the Navratri season underway as well as the use of sticks and batons on protesters.
Referring to media reports of a cockroach effigy being burnt as part of Dussehra celebrations, Thackeray, in a swipe at the BJP, said those who claim to have brought Ram are scared of cockroaches.
"We are here to change the regime," Thackeray asserted.
Addressing a press conference with CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday, Bhushan had said spreading "disaffection" against a government is not a crime in a democracy.
The struggle is now "really for a regime change", Bhushan had asserted, prompting a sharp attack from the ruling parties, including the BJP.
"The government alleges that the opposition wants a regime change... We are currently fighting to ensure that elections are conducted properly. But if this kind of brutality continues, there will certainly be a regime change," Bhushan had said.
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