Thousands Protest in India Demanding Education Minister's Resignation

Thousands of protesters under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party have marched on India's parliament to demand the resignation of India's education minister.

Police ordered to halt the unauthorised action reportedly used batons and tear gas with some demonstrators hurling stones.

The months-old Cockroach movement and the protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term.

Initially started in May as a satirical project, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) quickly amassed millions of supporters on social media.

The party was named in response to comments from India's Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant criticising "parasites" attacking institutions.

"There are youngsters like cockroaches who don't get any employment or have any place in the profession," he said during a hearing.

He later clarified his comments, saying he did not intend to insult India's youth.

The name CJP was also intended to parody Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The movement's founder, Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and student at Boston University, told the Associated Press at the time that the party's rise was unintentional.

Experts say the CJP's surge in popularity — built on memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary about corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction — reflects frustrations among young Indians including job shortages as well as exam leaks, which they say happen frequently.

"It is the younger people who were actually very frustrated," Mr Dipke said.

This week's protest comes following a scandal surrounding India's National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).

The CJP say the leaking of papers for the national entrance test to medical school in May, which forced some 2 million students to resit, was a sign of deep-seated corruption in education.

Around 12 people forced to resit the exams took their own lives, according to media reports.

Mr Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in last month seeking Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.

Activist Sonam Wangchuk joined them on June 28, launching an indefinite hunger strike.

When police forcibly moved Mr Wangchuk to hospital on Saturday, Mr Dipke announced he would begin a hunger strike and called for nationwide protests.

He said police used force while removing Mr Wangchuk and alleged he was "kidnapped by the police like criminals and goons" after "covering him in sheets".

Sachin Sharma, a deputy commissioner of police, said Mr Wangchuk's hospitalisation was carried out following medical advice and a court directive.

In response, thousands of supporters descended on New Delhi to march on the opening day of parliament's monsoon ⁠session on Monday.

Scores of police and paramilitary personnel turned out across the capital on Monday, stopping protesters as they chanted and waved the national flag.

Delhi Police said the march had not been authorised and restrictions were needed to maintain law and order around parliament during the monsoon session.

Television images showed police carrying out baton charges on some protesters in one area, although Delhi Police denied use of force, saying the protest was "being handled professionally".

Reuters journalists also said security officers fired rounds of tear gas near parliament to disperse the protesters, while elsewhere, some protesters hurled stones at police.

"Quit, quit," the protesters chanted. "Dharmendra Pradhan quit", "Narendra Modi quit", they said in Hindi.

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das accused the authorities of "brutally cracking down" on "peaceful protesters".

Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India's chair of board, said the images and reports emerging from the protests showed "how peaceful dissent is being suppressed in India".

"The police reportedly used unnecessary and excessive force against peaceful protesters and installed barricades to prevent them from reaching parliament," he said.

Nearly 180 people were injured and taken to nearby state-run hospitals on Monday, with a majority of them discharged after first aid.

Delhi Police said the injured included more than 118 security and police personnel and 60 protesters.

Seventy protesters had been detained and legal action would be initiated against them, it said in a statement late on Monday.

"They beat us black and blue and they damaged our protest site," Sahil Singh, a protester from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters.

"We want accountability to be set with Pradhan's resignation."

On Monday, Health Minister JP Nadda met two CJP leaders and sought time to discuss their demands within the government.

The demands include the release of Mr Wangchuk, Mr Pradhan's resignation and compensation of 10 million rupees ($148,000) for each student who died by suicide following the exam leak.

Mr Nadda said the leaders of CJP had submitted a memorandum to the government after verbal discussions.

"I appealed to all the protesters to end their sit-in and help the administration restore normalcy," he said in a post on X.

Early on Tuesday, about 150 to 200 protesters gathered at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, chanting slogans amid a mild drizzle. Security remained tight with paramilitary personnel patrolling parts of central Delhi and barricades slowing traffic.

Mr Dipke said the party would continue its protest but would not march again.

Also on Tuesday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and dozens of other Congress party members staged a sit-in protest outside Modi’s residence. Several were seen fastening zip ties around their wrists.

Analysts say even if the talks succeed in calming the protests, the underlying discontent among dissatisfied youth has the potential to present the most formidable challenge to Modi's government going forward.

"This is an issue which affects everyone … any crackdown against the overwhelmingly peaceful protesters, as the government is wont to do, will only serve to fuel anger," said Pearl Pandya, senior analyst for Asia Pacific at conflict monitoring research group ACLED.