Cinema VinesActor Imran Khan has publicly condemned the police’s use of force against student demonstrators who marched from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on Monday. In a recent Instagram post, the Bollywood star described the lathi‑charge and tear‑gas deployment as “unreasonable” and expressed his dismay at seeing the police “gassed and battered” the protestors. Khan wrote that the students, who had worked hard and were “failed by the system,” were “beaten down and disowned by the establishment.”
In the same post, Khan urged the nation to listen to the youth, asking, “Are these not the children of Mother India? If not them, for whom do we build, and whose future do we claim to protect?” He criticised the government’s demand for “organisation” from student groups while not holding authorities to the same standard of accountability, calling the latter “bootlickers.” Khan concluded that ignoring the students’ demands would cost society its future, insisting that solidarity with the protestors is the only viable option.
The actor’s stance follows a broader wave of celebrity support for the CJP‑led education reform movement. Earlier this week, he backed Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, which has lasted more than 23 days, and called for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Khan’s social‑media post read, “Standing up for the future @wangchuksworld #ChaloSansad.”
Other prominent figures have echoed Khan’s condemnation. Veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Abhay Deol, and Ratna Pathak Shah, as well as filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Zeenat Aman, have publicly expressed solidarity with the students. Shah, in particular, posted a message in Hindi that highlighted the anger felt over the police’s brutal treatment of children, likening the officers to “American ICE agents” and urging viewers to consider the consequences of such violence.
The protest, organized by the CJP (Central Janta Party), aimed to demand reforms in the education system and has drawn widespread attention from both the public and the entertainment industry. The police’s heavy-handed response has sparked a debate over the right to protest and the role of law enforcement in democratic societies.
