On October 4, 2026, estranged cousins Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena UBT) and Raj Thackeray (MNS) led a rare joint protest march in Mumbai, dubbed the “Virat Garjana Morcha” (Grand Roar March). Joined by leaders from the Congress and NCP (SP), the thousands of protesters marched from Metro Cinema toward the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters.
The primary target of the demonstration was Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The opposition leaders strongly condemned the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra, alleging that it was a systematic attempt to delete millions of genuine voters and manipulate elections. Raj Thackeray demanded the immediate cancellation of the SIR exercise, a return to ballot papers instead of voting machines, and targeted the CEC with the slogan, “Gyanesh Kaka, don’t loot the vote.”
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Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray slammed the ruling administration for alleged dictatorial tendencies, drawing parallels to historical regimes, while Sanjay Raut criticized the government over electoral hijacking and the alleged mistreatment of a female journalist in Delhi. In a symbolic move, all political party flags were banned from the march, with participants carrying only the national tricolour.
