The Cockroach Protests Are Reviving India’s Ailing Democracy
Wednesday 29 July 2026, by Komal Mohite
India’s “Cockroach” youth movement has now forced the resignation of the country’s education minister. What began as a single-issue protest mobilization has broadened into one of the biggest challenges Narendra Modi has faced in power.
The student protests in India trace their origins to a satirical social media page called the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP). Activist Abhijeet Dipke created the page in response to a disparaging remark from the chief justice of India, who likened youth activists to “cockroaches” for questioning the government.
What began as an online campaign soon evolved into a nationwide protest movement against the irregularities in examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), especially the leakage of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) question papers that triggered many aspiring students to commit suicide across the country.
The agitation gained significant momentum when Sonam Wangchuk, veteran educationist and social activist from Ladakh, joined the campaign and launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On Saturday, July 25, the campaign could claim the credit for forcing Pradhan to step down.
India’s “Cockroach” youth movement has now forced the resignation of the country’s education minister. What began as a single-issue protest mobilization has broadened into one of the biggest challenges Narendra Modi has faced in power.
The student protests in India trace their origins to a satirical social media page called the “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP). Activist Abhijeet Dipke created the page in response to a disparaging remark from the chief justice of India, who likened youth activists to “cockroaches” for questioning the government.
What began as an online campaign soon evolved into a nationwide protest movement against the irregularities in examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), especially the leakage of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) question papers that triggered many aspiring students to commit suicide across the country.
The agitation gained significant momentum when Sonam Wangchuk, veteran educationist and social activist from Ladakh, joined the campaign and launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On Saturday, July 25, the campaign could claim the credit for forcing Pradhan to step down.
From Social Media to the Streets
Although the initial agitation focused on a single-point agenda, it has now snowballed into a wider anti-corruption movement spearheaded by the CJP and young people to seek accountability from the ruling right-wing authoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. With tens of thousands of students responding to the CJP’s call for a march to Parliament in New Delhi on July 20, 2026, the agitation has emerged as one of the largest social movements in India during recent years.
It has garnered support from a broad spectrum of opposition parties, including those of the Left, as well as prominent public figures and celebrities. The movement has also attracted significant international attention through viral social media campaigns and extensive coverage by independent media outlets and the foreign press, on a scale not witnessed since the 2020–21 farmers’ protests.
The BJP and its supporters responded in their usual heavy-handed manner with a chorus of slander, calling the protesters “anti-national,” “foreign-funded,” “anti-Hindu,” “terrorists,” etc. When all these efforts to vilify the protests failed, the BJP resorted to police violence by forcibly picking up Sonam Wangchuk from the protest site at Jantar Mantar Road. Wangchuk was confined in a state-run hospital, isolated from family and political allies.
Following the CJP’s July 20 call for a march to the Parliament, the home affairs ministry run by Amit Shah deployed police and paramilitary forces to violently disperse the students gathered in and around Jantar Mantar Road. This involved jamming internet services near the protest site and using tear gas against those on the streets, as well as beating them with police batons, pelting them with stones, and subjecting them to arbitrary detentions.
Several female students also experienced sexual violence by the police. The use of pellet guns by the anti-riot force was reported: although the Delhi police deny using such weapons, at least two protesters were hospitalized with pellet wounds. Scores of students were grievously injured.
Although the initial agitation focused on a single-point agenda, it has now snowballed into a wider anti-corruption movement spearheaded by the CJP and young people to seek accountability from the ruling right-wing authoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. With tens of thousands of students responding to the CJP’s call for a march to Parliament in New Delhi on July 20, 2026, the agitation has emerged as one of the largest social movements in India during recent years.
It has garnered support from a broad spectrum of opposition parties, including those of the Left, as well as prominent public figures and celebrities. The movement has also attracted significant international attention through viral social media campaigns and extensive coverage by independent media outlets and the foreign press, on a scale not witnessed since the 2020–21 farmers’ protests.
The BJP and its supporters responded in their usual heavy-handed manner with a chorus of slander, calling the protesters “anti-national,” “foreign-funded,” “anti-Hindu,” “terrorists,” etc. When all these efforts to vilify the protests failed, the BJP resorted to police violence by forcibly picking up Sonam Wangchuk from the protest site at Jantar Mantar Road. Wangchuk was confined in a state-run hospital, isolated from family and political allies.
Following the CJP’s July 20 call for a march to the Parliament, the home affairs ministry run by Amit Shah deployed police and paramilitary forces to violently disperse the students gathered in and around Jantar Mantar Road. This involved jamming internet services near the protest site and using tear gas against those on the streets, as well as beating them with police batons, pelting them with stones, and subjecting them to arbitrary detentions.
Several female students also experienced sexual violence by the police. The use of pellet guns by the anti-riot force was reported: although the Delhi police deny using such weapons, at least two protesters were hospitalized with pellet wounds. Scores of students were grievously injured.
Dissent in the Modi Era
The crackdown was part of a familiar playbook that the BJP government has repeatedly deployed against dissent, most notably during the protests against the citizenship amendment bills in 2019–20 that sought to disenfranchise a significant section of the Muslim community in India.
This playbook involves outright refusal to engage in dialogue, sustained smear campaigns against protesters (amplified by the BJP’s IT cell), and the use of excessive police force to quell demonstrations, with the eventual arrest of activists under draconian anti-terror laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
However, the BJP’s aggressive approach has spectacularly backfired this time around. The crowds kept swelling after the July 20 crackdown, and the CJP leadership is now demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP’s difficulty in controlling the narrative stems in part from the fact that the student movement has mobilized concerns shared by Indian youth across class, caste, and religious divides. A significant proportion of the protesters come from Hindu middle-class families that have vehemently supported Modi’s Hindutva politics.
At the same time, it would be a mistake to dismiss the current agitation as either a fleeting “Gen Z” phenomenon or a movement driven solely by middle-class anxieties. Although it shares certain features with recent youth-led mobilizations in neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh, the movement is firmly grounded in its opposition to the sweeping neoliberal reforms of the education system carried out by the BJP government.
The crackdown was part of a familiar playbook that the BJP government has repeatedly deployed against dissent, most notably during the protests against the citizenship amendment bills in 2019–20 that sought to disenfranchise a significant section of the Muslim community in India.
This playbook involves outright refusal to engage in dialogue, sustained smear campaigns against protesters (amplified by the BJP’s IT cell), and the use of excessive police force to quell demonstrations, with the eventual arrest of activists under draconian anti-terror laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
However, the BJP’s aggressive approach has spectacularly backfired this time around. The crowds kept swelling after the July 20 crackdown, and the CJP leadership is now demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP’s difficulty in controlling the narrative stems in part from the fact that the student movement has mobilized concerns shared by Indian youth across class, caste, and religious divides. A significant proportion of the protesters come from Hindu middle-class families that have vehemently supported Modi’s Hindutva politics.
At the same time, it would be a mistake to dismiss the current agitation as either a fleeting “Gen Z” phenomenon or a movement driven solely by middle-class anxieties. Although it shares certain features with recent youth-led mobilizations in neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh, the movement is firmly grounded in its opposition to the sweeping neoliberal reforms of the education system carried out by the BJP government.
Dismantling Public Education
While the CJP leadership has limited its demands over education to seeking accountability from the authorities, the grievances stem from the wider neoliberal policies that the BJP has pursued. The National Education Policy (NEP), rolled out by the BJP in 2020, has accelerated the commercialization as well as the centralization of education. The policy marks a significant retreat of the state from its commitment to public education, allowing corporations and large IT firms to restructure the education system.
The increasing reliance on computer-based testing and the expansion of multiple-choice examinations — including in disciplines within the humanities and social sciences that emphasize critical reasoning and analytical writing — exemplify the broader drive toward the standardization and digitization of educational assessment. NEP 2020 has also strengthened the central government’s control over educational institutions and regulatory bodies, diminishing their institutional autonomy and facilitating greater political influence over appointments and decision-making.
These developments have assisted the BJP’s attempts to revise the curriculum to perpetuate its Hindu supremacist ideology. Overall, the policy has deepened existing class and caste inequalities by making access to quality education increasingly dependent on private resources, thereby weakening its historic role as a pathway for social mobility among lower- and middle-income groups.
The union government recently published a report, after much delay, as has been the norm under BJP rule, based on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE). It states that India witnessed a sharp decline in undergraduate enrollment across the country in major streams such as arts, science, and commerce between 2022 and 2024. This is particularly stark given that undergraduate enrollment constitutes 75 percent of the total enrollment in higher education, which also includes postgraduate studies, diplomas, and other certificate courses.
This period has also seen an significant increase in the number of higher education institutions participating in the AISHE survey, which indicates that there has been an expansion of private universities. At the same time, we have witnessed systematic dismantling of public institutions that not only provided subsidized education to the poor and the middle classes but were also constitutionally bound to reserve seats for the historically oppressed Dalit and backward caste groups. Combined with the rising unemployment rate in the country, these developments signal an acute crisis within the Indian economy, fueling mass resentment against the government.
While the CJP leadership has limited its demands over education to seeking accountability from the authorities, the grievances stem from the wider neoliberal policies that the BJP has pursued. The National Education Policy (NEP), rolled out by the BJP in 2020, has accelerated the commercialization as well as the centralization of education. The policy marks a significant retreat of the state from its commitment to public education, allowing corporations and large IT firms to restructure the education system.
The increasing reliance on computer-based testing and the expansion of multiple-choice examinations — including in disciplines within the humanities and social sciences that emphasize critical reasoning and analytical writing — exemplify the broader drive toward the standardization and digitization of educational assessment. NEP 2020 has also strengthened the central government’s control over educational institutions and regulatory bodies, diminishing their institutional autonomy and facilitating greater political influence over appointments and decision-making.
These developments have assisted the BJP’s attempts to revise the curriculum to perpetuate its Hindu supremacist ideology. Overall, the policy has deepened existing class and caste inequalities by making access to quality education increasingly dependent on private resources, thereby weakening its historic role as a pathway for social mobility among lower- and middle-income groups.
The union government recently published a report, after much delay, as has been the norm under BJP rule, based on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE). It states that India witnessed a sharp decline in undergraduate enrollment across the country in major streams such as arts, science, and commerce between 2022 and 2024. This is particularly stark given that undergraduate enrollment constitutes 75 percent of the total enrollment in higher education, which also includes postgraduate studies, diplomas, and other certificate courses.
This period has also seen an significant increase in the number of higher education institutions participating in the AISHE survey, which indicates that there has been an expansion of private universities. At the same time, we have witnessed systematic dismantling of public institutions that not only provided subsidized education to the poor and the middle classes but were also constitutionally bound to reserve seats for the historically oppressed Dalit and backward caste groups. Combined with the rising unemployment rate in the country, these developments signal an acute crisis within the Indian economy, fueling mass resentment against the government.
Indian Economy in Crisis
The rate of unemployment is particularly high among the college-educated and postgraduate demographic. Approximately twelve million candidates applied for 8,868 job openings in the state-owned Indian Railways company in 2025. Significantly, the candidates applying for these jobs tend to be overqualified in relation to the job requirements. Of the 2.5 million applicants for the 53,000 vacancies for the position of peon in Jaipur, many were college graduates and some even had PhDs.
The unemployment crisis is further compounded by the high cost of living, hikes in gas and petrol prices, and extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and air pollution that has made life particularly unbearable for working people. Many working-class Indians have joined the CJP protest to demand a better future for their children, so they will not have to go through the same hardships as the generations before them.
The dilution of social security programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the implementation of highly exclusionary labor codes by the BJP have left many workers, especially in the informal sector, in an acutely precarious condition and vulnerable to workplace exploitation. The government responded to recent labor unrest in the industrial townships of northern India with a similar crackdown to that faced by the CJP protest, and several youth activists and students who stood in support of the struggling laborers were arrested.
Another important factor that is driving public anger against the government and its wealthy backers is the fact that many of its leading figures have their children studying and settled abroad. The daughter of the education minister is currently a student at Tufts University, while her father is overseeing the crumbling education system at home. The Indian elite remain insulated from the harsh realities facing the country’s working people.
This is also a reflection of the larger trend of elites “exiting” the Indian economy, whether by moving abroad or through the heavy consumption of imported luxury goods that do not contribute to domestic growth and employment. The Indian government is bolstering these trends by cutting tariffs on imports of foreign goods.
For instance, the proposed Indo-US Trade Deal could result in further relaxation of tariffs on American goods by India, which are already low at 14.6 percent. The lowering of tariffs could adversely impact scores of marginal farmers and small businesses, with farmers’ groups preparing to intensify their agitation against the deal, further putting the government under pressure.
The rate of unemployment is particularly high among the college-educated and postgraduate demographic. Approximately twelve million candidates applied for 8,868 job openings in the state-owned Indian Railways company in 2025. Significantly, the candidates applying for these jobs tend to be overqualified in relation to the job requirements. Of the 2.5 million applicants for the 53,000 vacancies for the position of peon in Jaipur, many were college graduates and some even had PhDs.
The unemployment crisis is further compounded by the high cost of living, hikes in gas and petrol prices, and extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and air pollution that has made life particularly unbearable for working people. Many working-class Indians have joined the CJP protest to demand a better future for their children, so they will not have to go through the same hardships as the generations before them.
The dilution of social security programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the implementation of highly exclusionary labor codes by the BJP have left many workers, especially in the informal sector, in an acutely precarious condition and vulnerable to workplace exploitation. The government responded to recent labor unrest in the industrial townships of northern India with a similar crackdown to that faced by the CJP protest, and several youth activists and students who stood in support of the struggling laborers were arrested.
Another important factor that is driving public anger against the government and its wealthy backers is the fact that many of its leading figures have their children studying and settled abroad. The daughter of the education minister is currently a student at Tufts University, while her father is overseeing the crumbling education system at home. The Indian elite remain insulated from the harsh realities facing the country’s working people.
This is also a reflection of the larger trend of elites “exiting” the Indian economy, whether by moving abroad or through the heavy consumption of imported luxury goods that do not contribute to domestic growth and employment. The Indian government is bolstering these trends by cutting tariffs on imports of foreign goods.
For instance, the proposed Indo-US Trade Deal could result in further relaxation of tariffs on American goods by India, which are already low at 14.6 percent. The lowering of tariffs could adversely impact scores of marginal farmers and small businesses, with farmers’ groups preparing to intensify their agitation against the deal, further putting the government under pressure.
More Than a Single-Issue Protest
The CJP protests have captured the national imagination precisely because they have been successful in tapping into the simmering resentment against the BJP among youth, farmers, and the working classes, as well as indigenous communities that are facing widespread destruction of their homes and habitats due to the government’s extractivist policies. This appears to be the first time that a single-issue movement has transformed into an anti-BJP, anti-Modi agitation.
"This appears to be the first time that a single-issue movement has transformed into an anti-BJP, anti-Modi agitation."
The earlier movements included the nationwide protests against the exclusionary citizenship amendments. They spread widely across the country, but could never become a full-blown anti-BJP movement. The most spectacular agitation in recent times was the mobilization by farmers against a set of proposed Farm Bills in 2020. Though they were able to broaden the mobilization by including the demands of women and Dalit workers, the agitation of the farmers did not broaden into opposition to the government itself, which the CJP movement seems to have managed.
The crushing weight of the economic distress blighting the country, with no respite in sight, appears to have brought together a large group of people whose concerns go far beyond the education sector alone. This has transformed the CJP protest into a mobilization against Modi and the BJP, severely denting the prime minister’s cult of personality. Significantly, the young participants in the movement are championing secularism by firmly rejecting the BJP’s divisive anti-Muslim politics.
The Modi government is using all the tools in its arsenal to crush the student movement. It is authorizing the police to use invasive AI-enabled surveillance for facial recognition, and threatening to cancel the passports of identified activists and detain them arbitrarily for a prolonged period.
It is incumbent upon the Indian left to unite and mobilize their cadres and trade unions to join the agitation in large numbers. It is noteworthy that the student wings of India’s major communist parties have been participants from the very inception of the movement. Only the Left can take the student movement further from its single-point agenda toward realizing its radical, transformative potential.
It is quite uncertain whether these protests can translate into tangible electoral outcomes, as was evidenced even in the farmers’ protests of 2020. Nevertheless, this presents the Left with an opportunity to embed itself more deeply in these movements, and expand their scope by pushing the struggles against the neoliberal restructuring of the education system toward an anti-capitalist horizon.
26 July 2026
Source Jacobin.
The CJP protests have captured the national imagination precisely because they have been successful in tapping into the simmering resentment against the BJP among youth, farmers, and the working classes, as well as indigenous communities that are facing widespread destruction of their homes and habitats due to the government’s extractivist policies. This appears to be the first time that a single-issue movement has transformed into an anti-BJP, anti-Modi agitation.
"This appears to be the first time that a single-issue movement has transformed into an anti-BJP, anti-Modi agitation."
The earlier movements included the nationwide protests against the exclusionary citizenship amendments. They spread widely across the country, but could never become a full-blown anti-BJP movement. The most spectacular agitation in recent times was the mobilization by farmers against a set of proposed Farm Bills in 2020. Though they were able to broaden the mobilization by including the demands of women and Dalit workers, the agitation of the farmers did not broaden into opposition to the government itself, which the CJP movement seems to have managed.
The crushing weight of the economic distress blighting the country, with no respite in sight, appears to have brought together a large group of people whose concerns go far beyond the education sector alone. This has transformed the CJP protest into a mobilization against Modi and the BJP, severely denting the prime minister’s cult of personality. Significantly, the young participants in the movement are championing secularism by firmly rejecting the BJP’s divisive anti-Muslim politics.
The Modi government is using all the tools in its arsenal to crush the student movement. It is authorizing the police to use invasive AI-enabled surveillance for facial recognition, and threatening to cancel the passports of identified activists and detain them arbitrarily for a prolonged period.
It is incumbent upon the Indian left to unite and mobilize their cadres and trade unions to join the agitation in large numbers. It is noteworthy that the student wings of India’s major communist parties have been participants from the very inception of the movement. Only the Left can take the student movement further from its single-point agenda toward realizing its radical, transformative potential.
It is quite uncertain whether these protests can translate into tangible electoral outcomes, as was evidenced even in the farmers’ protests of 2020. Nevertheless, this presents the Left with an opportunity to embed itself more deeply in these movements, and expand their scope by pushing the struggles against the neoliberal restructuring of the education system toward an anti-capitalist horizon.
26 July 2026
Source Jacobin.
Attached documents
Komal Mohite
July 29, 2026
Jantar Mantar protest, photo provided by the author.
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Education Minister of India resigned on July 25! The government finally succumbed to the demands of the Gen Z. The protest that started at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi a month and half ago under the banner of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), demanding the resignation of Pradhan finally triumphed.
Emergence of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)
In response to the ‘Cockroach’ remark by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on the activists – that drew flak from several quarters – Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian youth who studied in Boston University and lived there started a satirical name: Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). In a few days, it gained 20 million followers on Instagram. A nervous government blocked its Instagram and X handles, though the Instagram handle was unblocked after a short period followed by their X handle. This led to a social media storm in protest against the move. Earlier, the NEET paper leak, the entrance examination for admission to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), leading to the cancellation of the exam. At least twelve students died by suicide due to the paper leak, reported Indian Express. CJP claims the number of suicides is twenty one. The CJP demanded the resignation of the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the paper leak. Almost simultaneously, the fiasco surrounding the CBSE (Secondary Board of Secondary Education) online paper evaluation was also exposed. These systemic failure of the education system has affected millions of students. The government took some kneejerk actions frustrating the youth. Gradually the CJP youth decided to launch a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to press their demands. Dipke arrived in Delhi from Boston and led the protest on June 20. The other leaders of the movement are Saurav Das, a journalist who writes on judiciary, and Ashutosh Ranka.
Sonam Wangchuk sat in an indefinite hunger strike
With the renowned educationist and Magsaysay award winner from Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk sitting on an indefinite hunger strike supporting the youth’s demands at Jantar Mantar, the protest gained momentum. Thousands of youths joined in and protested in a peaceful manner. After about ten and eleven days of fast, as the message of deteriorating health of Wangchuk spread across, several activist, opposition leaders, celebrities started supporting the protest and reaching out to Wangchuk urging him to end fast. Wangchuk was firm in his conviction. “I will end my fast only if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns”. With government turning a deaf ear to the protest, the CJP announced ‘Sansad Chalo’ (March to the Parliament) on July 20 inviting youths from across the country.
The protest leaders including Wangchuk, Dipke and others constantly appealed the youth to remain peaceful and non-violent throughout the protest. Owing to these appeals, the protest remained remarkably peaceful despite rising numbers of youth, children, mothers, fathers and elderly people pouring in each passing day barring probably a few exceptions.
On July 19, the police forcibly and quite unceremoniously took Wangchuk to a hospital, which was aimed at weakening the planned rally to the Parliament. At this juncture, CJP scaled up its pitch demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This incident flared up the situation and hundreds of thousands of youths from different parts of the country came to join the march on July 20 when the monsoon session of Parliament began.
It was only on July 19, the government offered to talk to the protesters based on the intelligence report that crowd was surging in Jantar Mantar.
March to the Parliament
On July 20, when more than hundred thousand students and youths marched to the Parliament under the banner of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding the minister’s resignation, the police unleashed unprecedented violence on unarmed youth. Layers of barricades were erected on roads heading towards the Parliament to prevent the youth. Youth broke the barricades and moved ahead. Several opposition party leaders joined in. The protesters were ruthlessly beaten with sticks, and teargas was used on them. Some protesters suffered skull fracture with blood pouring out from their injuries. Children protesters as young as ten – fifteen years were beaten and seen crying. In some cases, the clothes of female protesters were torn. There were allegations of molestation. In one case, a tear gas canister was fired directly at a youth causing him lose consciousness on the spot. Worse, pellet guns were used against the peaceful protesters, reportedly for the first time by the police in recent past, according to a report by The Hindu. While the youth were seen running hither and thither to escape the assault, some youths stood firm – braving the batons of the police personnel – a scene that is reminiscent of the freedom struggle against the British in colonial India. While the NDA government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thought that unleashing violence against the protesters would dampen the spirit of the youth, the strategy backfired. The youth movement spread to at least 34 cities – including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Nagpur, among others (as on 23 July 2026) making it a national movement.
The police alleged that some of its personnel were injured in the attacks by the protesters on July 20. In some places, the youth were seen pelting stones, while in another, police were seen doing the same. Dipke had earlier warned that a vehicle full of stones was parked at Jantar Mantar before the march to Parliament. Therefore, an independent investigation should be conducted to establish the facts.
Gandhian method of Satyagraha – nonviolent resistance
When the protest began, no one was sure of its effectiveness. People doubted the non-violent character of the protest as government kept ignoring it. The government was probably of the impression, as Yogendra Yadav, a political activist, sarcastically summarized, “that India’s Gen Z is too sophisticated, habituated to living in air-conditioned environment. They cannot sit outdoors for a long-time bearing Delhi’s heat and humidity. The struggle would fizzle out in some days!” Several opposition leaders cautioned Wangchuk that Modi government is too stubborn to care for his sacrifice. Some even compared the continued non-response of the government with the Britishers in pre-independent era, who at least responded to the hunger strikes of Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders then. Some students of the All India Students Association (AISA), a left leaning students union, Neha Bora, Aameen Amitoj, Manish Kumar and others also sat on a hunger strike at Janatar Mantar in a separate place with similar demands. Wangchuk, Neha and others continued fast despite advice from well-wishers. People got emotional at the sacrifice of Wangchuk, Neha and others youth staging a dharna (sit-in protest) in adverse conditions for the sake of the future of all children and youth of the country. The masses realized that it was time they shed their fear and join the protesters who were risking their lives.
There were as many as 152 examination paper leaks in the last decade, claims Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition, that affected 7.5 million youth and their families. Hopeless over their future, the youth were getting increasingly restless.
People in general are already fed up with rising authoritarianism and insensitivity of the NDA government at the Center and NDA/BJP-ruled states. Bulldozing of people’s houses at slightest provocation, putting people behind the bar for doing democratic protests – criminalizing dissent, widespread allegations of corruption, bringing anti-farmer policies to benefit their corporate friends, allegations of electoral manipulation including vote theft with the alleged complicity of the Election Commission, mass disenfranchisement of the citizens under SIR (Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls), putting opposition leaders behind the bars using investigating agencies, engineering mass defections from opposition ranks, spreading communal hatred to cover its failures and so on. The protest was an opportunity to vent their frustration.
Lawyers’ associations, farmers’ associations and many other have extended support to the movement. Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Shabana Azmi, Prakash Raj and others have also extended support.
The way people stopped fearing the government, started joining and supporting the protest in Delhi, and starting peaceful protests across the country proved the efficacy of the Gandhian method of Satyaghara!
It may be noted that in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Gen Z movement and people’s resistance took a violent turn within a matter of days. In India, however, this did not happen. The government was ready to crack down at any moment at a slightest instance of violence by the protesters,. The youth, however, frustrated this attempt due to their entrenched Gandhian values.
Opposition parties united behind the students
As the July 20, when the march to Parliament was ruthlessly dealt with by the police making hue and cry across the country, the opposition party leaders created ruckus inside and outside the Parliament condemning the government. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress party did a sit-in protest near the Prime Minister’s residence.
Role of media and judiciary
Initially the Godi media (a term used by critics to describe media outlets perceived as being close to the government) – mostly the TV channels, did not cover the protest initially. When they covered, they branded the protesters as ‘anti-nationals’ having international connections instead of reporting the facts. This is what these channels do in every genuine protest. Their agenda is to protect and defend the government and blame any form of dissent. Some of them are also spreading fake narratives and spew hate. It’s only the independent journalists through their YouTube channels who are doing a good job by doing factual reporting. Independent newspapers like The Hindu and Indian Express and some others continue to cover the protest in a professional way.
At the protest site the youth chanted “Godi media” to the reporters from these so-called Godi TV channels. Unfortunately, on the day of march to Parliament, a reporter from TimesNow TV channel was allegedly manhandled by the protesters, which has been condemned by the CJP and all concerned.
In recent years, the credibility of the higher judiciary has taken a severe beating. Even common people now can observe courts’ apathy towards people’s issues and human rights violations. As a plea on the police excesses on the unarmed youth during the march to Parliament reached the Supreme Court seeking urgent listing, the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, “Do not waste our time” and declined to entertain it. However, after severe criticism, the CJI has clarified that he was misunderstood and said that the court is available 24 hours a day.
Government bowed, Wangchuk ended fast
As the protest spread like wildfire across the country after the July 20 mayhem drawing international attention, and mounting pressure from the opposition and general public, the government bowed. The government however used a “carrot and stick” method to engage with the protesters. On the one hand it was talking to the protesters, on the other the police were taking different measures to stifle the protest. Ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh met Wangchuk in the hospital and persuaded him to end his fast, which he did after 26 days. The CJP leadership led by Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have had two rounds of talks with the ministers putting forward their demands: the resignation of the Education Minister; compensation to the families of the children who died by suicide due to the paper leak; and the withdrawal of FIRs on the protesting youth. The latter two demands were accepted by the government. For the first demand, the ministers sought time.
What happens to the movement now?
The youth led ‘Gandhian struggle’ awakened the whole nation! Minister resigned. It was an instance of direct democracy where the government had to succumb to its electors. All demands of the protesters were accepted leading to CJP announcing an end to the protest. Is it actually an end to the youth protest? For now, yes. However, this is one battle won – in education sector. This victory is likely to open protests in other sectors of governance which are in disarray
July 29, 2026
Jantar Mantar protest, photo provided by the author.
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Education Minister of India resigned on July 25! The government finally succumbed to the demands of the Gen Z. The protest that started at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi a month and half ago under the banner of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), demanding the resignation of Pradhan finally triumphed.
Emergence of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)
In response to the ‘Cockroach’ remark by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on the activists – that drew flak from several quarters – Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian youth who studied in Boston University and lived there started a satirical name: Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). In a few days, it gained 20 million followers on Instagram. A nervous government blocked its Instagram and X handles, though the Instagram handle was unblocked after a short period followed by their X handle. This led to a social media storm in protest against the move. Earlier, the NEET paper leak, the entrance examination for admission to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), leading to the cancellation of the exam. At least twelve students died by suicide due to the paper leak, reported Indian Express. CJP claims the number of suicides is twenty one. The CJP demanded the resignation of the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the paper leak. Almost simultaneously, the fiasco surrounding the CBSE (Secondary Board of Secondary Education) online paper evaluation was also exposed. These systemic failure of the education system has affected millions of students. The government took some kneejerk actions frustrating the youth. Gradually the CJP youth decided to launch a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to press their demands. Dipke arrived in Delhi from Boston and led the protest on June 20. The other leaders of the movement are Saurav Das, a journalist who writes on judiciary, and Ashutosh Ranka.
Sonam Wangchuk sat in an indefinite hunger strike
With the renowned educationist and Magsaysay award winner from Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk sitting on an indefinite hunger strike supporting the youth’s demands at Jantar Mantar, the protest gained momentum. Thousands of youths joined in and protested in a peaceful manner. After about ten and eleven days of fast, as the message of deteriorating health of Wangchuk spread across, several activist, opposition leaders, celebrities started supporting the protest and reaching out to Wangchuk urging him to end fast. Wangchuk was firm in his conviction. “I will end my fast only if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns”. With government turning a deaf ear to the protest, the CJP announced ‘Sansad Chalo’ (March to the Parliament) on July 20 inviting youths from across the country.
The protest leaders including Wangchuk, Dipke and others constantly appealed the youth to remain peaceful and non-violent throughout the protest. Owing to these appeals, the protest remained remarkably peaceful despite rising numbers of youth, children, mothers, fathers and elderly people pouring in each passing day barring probably a few exceptions.
On July 19, the police forcibly and quite unceremoniously took Wangchuk to a hospital, which was aimed at weakening the planned rally to the Parliament. At this juncture, CJP scaled up its pitch demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This incident flared up the situation and hundreds of thousands of youths from different parts of the country came to join the march on July 20 when the monsoon session of Parliament began.
It was only on July 19, the government offered to talk to the protesters based on the intelligence report that crowd was surging in Jantar Mantar.
March to the Parliament
On July 20, when more than hundred thousand students and youths marched to the Parliament under the banner of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding the minister’s resignation, the police unleashed unprecedented violence on unarmed youth. Layers of barricades were erected on roads heading towards the Parliament to prevent the youth. Youth broke the barricades and moved ahead. Several opposition party leaders joined in. The protesters were ruthlessly beaten with sticks, and teargas was used on them. Some protesters suffered skull fracture with blood pouring out from their injuries. Children protesters as young as ten – fifteen years were beaten and seen crying. In some cases, the clothes of female protesters were torn. There were allegations of molestation. In one case, a tear gas canister was fired directly at a youth causing him lose consciousness on the spot. Worse, pellet guns were used against the peaceful protesters, reportedly for the first time by the police in recent past, according to a report by The Hindu. While the youth were seen running hither and thither to escape the assault, some youths stood firm – braving the batons of the police personnel – a scene that is reminiscent of the freedom struggle against the British in colonial India. While the NDA government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thought that unleashing violence against the protesters would dampen the spirit of the youth, the strategy backfired. The youth movement spread to at least 34 cities – including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Nagpur, among others (as on 23 July 2026) making it a national movement.
The police alleged that some of its personnel were injured in the attacks by the protesters on July 20. In some places, the youth were seen pelting stones, while in another, police were seen doing the same. Dipke had earlier warned that a vehicle full of stones was parked at Jantar Mantar before the march to Parliament. Therefore, an independent investigation should be conducted to establish the facts.
Gandhian method of Satyagraha – nonviolent resistance
When the protest began, no one was sure of its effectiveness. People doubted the non-violent character of the protest as government kept ignoring it. The government was probably of the impression, as Yogendra Yadav, a political activist, sarcastically summarized, “that India’s Gen Z is too sophisticated, habituated to living in air-conditioned environment. They cannot sit outdoors for a long-time bearing Delhi’s heat and humidity. The struggle would fizzle out in some days!” Several opposition leaders cautioned Wangchuk that Modi government is too stubborn to care for his sacrifice. Some even compared the continued non-response of the government with the Britishers in pre-independent era, who at least responded to the hunger strikes of Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders then. Some students of the All India Students Association (AISA), a left leaning students union, Neha Bora, Aameen Amitoj, Manish Kumar and others also sat on a hunger strike at Janatar Mantar in a separate place with similar demands. Wangchuk, Neha and others continued fast despite advice from well-wishers. People got emotional at the sacrifice of Wangchuk, Neha and others youth staging a dharna (sit-in protest) in adverse conditions for the sake of the future of all children and youth of the country. The masses realized that it was time they shed their fear and join the protesters who were risking their lives.
There were as many as 152 examination paper leaks in the last decade, claims Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition, that affected 7.5 million youth and their families. Hopeless over their future, the youth were getting increasingly restless.
People in general are already fed up with rising authoritarianism and insensitivity of the NDA government at the Center and NDA/BJP-ruled states. Bulldozing of people’s houses at slightest provocation, putting people behind the bar for doing democratic protests – criminalizing dissent, widespread allegations of corruption, bringing anti-farmer policies to benefit their corporate friends, allegations of electoral manipulation including vote theft with the alleged complicity of the Election Commission, mass disenfranchisement of the citizens under SIR (Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls), putting opposition leaders behind the bars using investigating agencies, engineering mass defections from opposition ranks, spreading communal hatred to cover its failures and so on. The protest was an opportunity to vent their frustration.
Lawyers’ associations, farmers’ associations and many other have extended support to the movement. Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Shabana Azmi, Prakash Raj and others have also extended support.
The way people stopped fearing the government, started joining and supporting the protest in Delhi, and starting peaceful protests across the country proved the efficacy of the Gandhian method of Satyaghara!
It may be noted that in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Gen Z movement and people’s resistance took a violent turn within a matter of days. In India, however, this did not happen. The government was ready to crack down at any moment at a slightest instance of violence by the protesters,. The youth, however, frustrated this attempt due to their entrenched Gandhian values.
Opposition parties united behind the students
As the July 20, when the march to Parliament was ruthlessly dealt with by the police making hue and cry across the country, the opposition party leaders created ruckus inside and outside the Parliament condemning the government. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress party did a sit-in protest near the Prime Minister’s residence.
Role of media and judiciary
Initially the Godi media (a term used by critics to describe media outlets perceived as being close to the government) – mostly the TV channels, did not cover the protest initially. When they covered, they branded the protesters as ‘anti-nationals’ having international connections instead of reporting the facts. This is what these channels do in every genuine protest. Their agenda is to protect and defend the government and blame any form of dissent. Some of them are also spreading fake narratives and spew hate. It’s only the independent journalists through their YouTube channels who are doing a good job by doing factual reporting. Independent newspapers like The Hindu and Indian Express and some others continue to cover the protest in a professional way.
At the protest site the youth chanted “Godi media” to the reporters from these so-called Godi TV channels. Unfortunately, on the day of march to Parliament, a reporter from TimesNow TV channel was allegedly manhandled by the protesters, which has been condemned by the CJP and all concerned.
In recent years, the credibility of the higher judiciary has taken a severe beating. Even common people now can observe courts’ apathy towards people’s issues and human rights violations. As a plea on the police excesses on the unarmed youth during the march to Parliament reached the Supreme Court seeking urgent listing, the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, “Do not waste our time” and declined to entertain it. However, after severe criticism, the CJI has clarified that he was misunderstood and said that the court is available 24 hours a day.
Government bowed, Wangchuk ended fast
As the protest spread like wildfire across the country after the July 20 mayhem drawing international attention, and mounting pressure from the opposition and general public, the government bowed. The government however used a “carrot and stick” method to engage with the protesters. On the one hand it was talking to the protesters, on the other the police were taking different measures to stifle the protest. Ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh met Wangchuk in the hospital and persuaded him to end his fast, which he did after 26 days. The CJP leadership led by Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have had two rounds of talks with the ministers putting forward their demands: the resignation of the Education Minister; compensation to the families of the children who died by suicide due to the paper leak; and the withdrawal of FIRs on the protesting youth. The latter two demands were accepted by the government. For the first demand, the ministers sought time.
What happens to the movement now?
The youth led ‘Gandhian struggle’ awakened the whole nation! Minister resigned. It was an instance of direct democracy where the government had to succumb to its electors. All demands of the protesters were accepted leading to CJP announcing an end to the protest. Is it actually an end to the youth protest? For now, yes. However, this is one battle won – in education sector. This victory is likely to open protests in other sectors of governance which are in disarray
