A supporter of India’s Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) holds an Indian national flag at the ongoing protest site, a few days after thousands of protesters marched towards parliament demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper leaks, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India. Photo: Reuters
Leaders of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement said on Friday that the government has asked for time until Saturday afternoon to respond to their demand for the education minister’s resignation, following talks between the two sides.
The talks came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike, raising hopes that the two sides could reach a breakthrough after tens of thousands of angry youth converged in the capital , Delhi, to demand the minister’s resignation over exam paper leaks.
The anti-government protests represent the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014. Opposition parties have echoed the movement’s demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.
The talks were the first substantive meeting between the two sides after a preliminary round held on Monday.
The government was represented by senior federal ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh, while the protesters were represented by Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, spokespersons of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The CJP leaders said that they had clearly conveyed to the ministers that nothing would be acceptable to them without the education minister’s resignation, warning that protests would become even more widespread if this was not done.
Read: Timeline: Two decades of mass protests in India
“The government has asked for time until tomorrow afternoon to respond on this point (the minister’s resignation),” Ranka told reporters after the talks. “We hope the government will dismiss Dharmendra Pradhan at the earliest, or that he will resign, so that we can bring this matter to a conclusion.”
Minister Nadda said the talks took place in a cordial atmosphere.
“They had three main demands. We have told them we will meet you tomorrow afternoon and discuss the demands,” he said.
Besides the resignation of Minister Pradhan, the protesters want police cases filed against protesters dropped, and compensation paid to families of more than a dozen students who local media reported took their own lives after the exam paper leak in May.
Protesters insist on resignation of education minister
A senior minister said on Thursday that the government was always open to talks, for however long it would take and that it would not “stand on prestige”.
Young men and women at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, however, said they would continue to insist on the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to fix accountability for the mess in the national examinations.
“We will continue to protest till Dharmendra Pradhan is terminated,” said Sudesh Singh, as thousands of protesters chanted slogans and the size of the crowd grew slowly. “He should not be given another position. If we stop here, then we will compromise the future of our children.”
The protests by the CJP began as an online satire and involved only a few hundred young people when they were first launched. But it grew to pull in millions of online followers after the cancellation of a national medical college entrance test in May after the question paper was leaked, affecting about 2 million students.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the movement marched on parliament in violation of a ban on Monday and clashed with police when they were pushed back with tear gas and beaten with batons.
Violence was reported again on Wednesday night when more than 10,000 protesters gathered at the protest site in central Delhi.
Read more: What’s behind India’s ‘cockroach’ youth protests?
The movement’s surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as job shortages, as well as frequent exam leaks, analysts say, and warn that the government should effectively address the crisis.
Delhi metro shuts stations, mobile internet disrupted
On Thursday, authorities shut 16 metro stations, mobile internet services and curtailed business in central Delhi where the protesters have been camped – seen as an attempt to curb the demonstrations – inconveniencing thousands of people.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corp. said it was shutting down 17 stations again from early on Friday morning until further instructions, the third time this week it has resorted to such a large-scale closure of the system, which is the lifeline of the capital.
Mobile internet services in the area were disrupted again on Friday morning, with Reuters journalists reporting patchy or no connectivity.
The government had extended the mobile internet shutdown until midnight on Friday, two industry sources told Reuters.
Also read: Modi promises fast-track courts on exam leaks, protesters want minister to quit
The federal cabinet will meet on Friday and discuss a draft to amend laws to punish culprits behind exam paper leaks and get it approved by parliament at the earliest, Modi said late on Thursday.
But the protesters have rejected the proposal, saying the examination system should be fixed to prevent leaks in the first place.
Youth-led, street protests in neighbouring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have brought down governments in recent years and Modi’s government should go beyond words to engage with protesters and address their anxieties, analysts say.
Although national elections are due only by April 2029, key states like the most populous, Uttar Pradesh, run by Modi’s party, his home state of Gujarat, and Punjab, vote next year and anti-government sentiment could have an impact, they warn.
The movement has also seen a sharp spike in invective, online criticism, jokes and memes targeting Modi, a nationalist leader with a large, popular following. This indicates less fear of Modi, whose supporters quickly, often angrily, spring to his defence, analysts say.
