‘You can break a stick, not a bundle’: Thousands from across the country attend rally in India

Some traveled in sleeper buses for almost 48 hours after train services were cancelled. Others booked rail tickets from multiple stations to circumvent bulk booking restrictions. At least one walked in from the hospital ward. They all negotiated several hurdles on their way to Delhi as they came from remote corners of the country in their thousands for the INDIA Bloc rally on Sunday.

Chalo Dilli Protests: Watch LIVE updates from opposition rally on November 1, 2026

The reasons that brought them to Delhi were varied. For many, it was the only way to register their anger at being removed from the voters’ list. For some, it was their first visit to the capital. For others, it was a political pilgrimage that they hoped would bring long-awaited change.

Everyone converged on the muddy grounds of Ramlila Maidan, where white plastic chairs sank into the rain-soaked ground and shoes left deep footprints. Crowds were spilling out of the venue and many were still heading towards the grounds after the rally was over.

“A better future for our children”

“You can easily break one stick, but when you tie 10 sticks together, they cannot be broken. Today’s protest symbolizes that bundle of sticks,” said Tejender, an IT employee who came with his wife from Gurugram.

He said he was participating in the rally “for a better future for our children.” His list of grievances was long, ranging from the state of education and healthcare to what he described as “vote chori (theft)”, which he felt compounded many of the country’s problems.

Sheikh Abdul Rafiq, who traveled from Adilabad in Telangana, claimed that 15,000 people had come from the state despite what he described as efforts to restrict travel. Special trains were not allowed. Bulk bookings have been blocked. In the end, he said, the group decided to spend their own money on booking sleeper buses. For him, the journey was worth the effort because he felt that political change was just around the corner.

Proclaiming injustice

If Mr. Rafiq was talking about change, another resident of Telangana, Abdul Kaleem of Suryapet district, said he was only there to highlight the “injustice”. Almost 80% of the people in his village lost their votes during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, he claimed. “I was born here, I studied here, I live here,” he said, but to get his name on the electoral roll, he needed documents about his father and grandfather, which his family cannot find.

Zubair, a resident of Mominpura in central Nagpur, Maharashtra, echoed the sentiment. He runs from pillar to post to include the names of his family members in the voter list, but it seems futile. He hoped that participating in the protests in the capital might do what all the running around at home couldn’t do. “I was also here at the October 10 protests,” he said.

A scene from the INDIA Bloc ‘Chalo Dilli’ march from Minto Bridge to Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on November 1, 2026. | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

He is looking for signs of recovery

For Ram Kumar, a resident of Jharkhand’s Giridih, who was visiting Delhi for the first time, the gathering was something of a carnival. He was traveling with a group of 60 people and staying at a local lodge, he said. After spending the day at Ramlila Maidan, he was looking forward to exploring the capital by metro, a mode of transport he had never used before.

For Anil Shukla, a Congress functionary from Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, who traveled with about 300 others in buses and arrived just in time for the rally, the anti-SIR campaign was not as compelling a reason to attend as the possible revival of the Congress in his state. The crowd marching to the Ramlila compound gave him hope. “If we fight for 75 seats, we’ll win 60,” he said, looking around the crowd, his smile widening as more people poured in.

‘I didn’t want to miss that’

Azka, a cafe owner from Delhi who had spent the previous week hospitalized at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital with typhus, also arrived at the protest with an IV still inserted in her left arm.

“I couldn’t attend earlier protests because I wasn’t well. I didn’t want to miss this one today. I’m just here to support the people in our country who are fighting against the wrongdoing of the government,” she said.

Ms. Azka said that her mother strictly did not recommend her to attend the rally. However, she decided to make the trip anyway, joking that she would return to the hospital the next day if her condition worsened.

Congress general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal, in his post on X, claimed that the authorities tried to prevent supporters from entering Delhi.

“They tried their best to stop people and their vehicles from entering Delhi borders. They deployed their usual department of fake news and dirty tricks. They used their machinery to suppress our voice,” he said. It is clear that thousands have overcome such obstacles.

Published – 01 Nov 2026 16:44 IST