While the Cockroach Janata Party protest went ahead in Mumbai, tribal students who had marched from Nashik demanding better food and conditions in their schools allege they were detained before they could reach Azad Maidan and Raj Bhavan where they had intended to hold a protest.

Students and Congress leaders allege that the police entered Tilak Bhavan, the official headquarters of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), where several students had been put up, in the intervening night of October 4 and October 5, and took students into custody without a warrant. 

The MPCC has since filed a complaint, while Mumbai Police have disputed the claim. 

The protesting students had set out on a foot march from Nashik on September 28, after 47 days of protest at Nashik’s Eidgah Maidan over the deplorable conditions of Maharashtra’s Ashram Shalas (residential schools for scheduled tribe students) and other tribal schools, and aimed to reach the protest sites on October 5. They allege that poor-quality food, reduced rations, and inadequate facilities are putting students at risk, and hold Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike responsible, demanding his resignation. 

Separately, aspirants of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) in Pune have been protesting since October 1, demanding the resignation of its chairman Vivek Bhimanwar over the alleged leak of the Drug Inspector examination held on March 19, 2026.

Sagar Salunkhe, an NSUI leader who was also detained by the police, told Newslaundry, “A core demand was to cancel the central kitchen system for tribal schools, as the quality of food being provided to children in Adivasi schools was extremely poor.”

The centralised  kitchen system was an initiative launched by the Maharashtra Tribal Development Department in 2015 with Tata Trust and the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The idea was to provide good-quality food to reduce malnourishment in the tribal........

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