Abhijit Iyer-Mitra Clarifies Viral Video of Lawyer Agreeing to ‘Divide India Into Seven Pieces,’ Was Sarcastic

Key Points:

A video has gone viral on social media where a reporter asked a lawyer about dividing India into seven pieces and he replied with a yes. The video drew widespread criticism, but later Abhijit Iyer Mitra claimed that the man was his associate, who had gone to the protest to gather information.

The video is seen to have been recorded during the Cockroach Janata Party protest at Jantar Mantar, which happened on June 6, 2026. The protest was attended by a large number of people demanding justice for NEET and other competitive exam aspirants, and calling for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. 

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The video, which was first published on the Khabari Adda YouTube channel, is being widely shared across social media platforms. In the video, a Khabari Adda reporter asked the man about his profession, to which he replied that he is a lawyer currently practising in the Delhi High Court. The reporter then further questioned him, asking if someone came to him and said something against the country, like "we will divide the country into seven pieces", would he accept it? The lawyer in the video replied with a yes and, when the shocked reporter asked again to reconfirm, “Desh ko sath tukdo main baat denge?” (“Divide the nation into seven pieces?”), he again replied with a yes.

The video has gone viral, drawing criticism from many people and also death threats from some. One person wrote, “We would rather like to see idiots like you cut into 70 pieces. This is the country of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, not of some idiot who will cut it into pieces like you.” Many others called him anti-national and a terrorist, saying that he is from Pakistan, while many called on the courts to arrest him under the UAPA. There were many others who also threatened to kill him.

A Clarification on the CJP Protest “Seven Pieces” Remark Video

After all of this happened and the video became widely circulated, a clarification came on June 10, 2026. It was not from the man in the video but from Abhijit Iyer Mitra - Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and a right wing commentator. Mitra made a post on X where he clarified that the person in the video is his guy named Mayank, whom he had sent for ground reporting at the CJP protest and he (the lawyer) role playing at the protest to assimilate himself with the protesters there. He wrote, “Mayank is my kid. I’d sent him to give me a ground report on the CJP protest on 6th. You’re trolling him is NOT COOL. He’s a through & through nationalist. Also couldn’t you see from the smirk he was being sarcastic?”

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Mitra shared some screenshots of his chat with Mayank and a screenshot from the video where Mayank is shown making the remark. In the messages, Mayank first explained to Mitra what the situation was and that he was being called anti-national. In the screenshot, Mayank can be seen asking Mitra for help, saying, “Please, Please help, they are after my family.”

Mitra said that, to try to fit in among the protesters, Mayank said this and that he is not anti-national. “He said that crap to ‘fit in’ so that he could get me more info. I’d specifically tasked him to find SFI/AISA creeps. Yeah, he role-played a bit too well. But that was his brief and that included saying crap like ‘yes I want to see India split in 7’. If he hadn’t said that the SFI/AISA creeps wouldn’t have shared info with him.”

Who is Abhijit Iyer-Mitra?

Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is an Indian defence economist, security analyst, and political commentator. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) and previously served as the coordinator of the National Security Programme at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). 

Known for his outspoken views, Iyer-Mitra frequently contributes to national and international publications and maintains an active presence on social media, particularly X. He also appears on news agency ANI's podcast The Real Samosa Caucus, where the panel members share their unfiltered views on a range of current affairs and public issues.

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