India Sees Widespread Youth Protests Over Exam Leaks and Police Action

In India, thousands of young people are protesting against the government, even after a violent police response. The movement was propelled by one man's hunger strike.

Fifty-nine-year-old Sonam Wangchuk wears many hats. He's an environmentalist who innovated ice stupas, a technique of building artificial glaciers for irrigation in the Himalayas. He's an education activist who worked to bring back Indigenous knowledge to classrooms. But the first time most people in India heard of him was after the Bollywood movie "3 Idiots."

The film is about three friends in a top Indian university reeling under academic pressure. Its lead character, played by Indian star Aamir Khan, is widely seen to be inspired by Sonam Wangchuk. When the film was released in 2009, many identified with Khan's character, speaking of India's broken education system.

He says education in India has been reduced to getting good grades, then finding a job in the U.S. The rat race, he adds, is literally killing students. India's official database says student suicides are increasing faster than those of the overall population. And in May this year, what for many was the final straw - questions for a nationwide university entrance exam leaked, and the government announced that two million candidates would have to retake the tests. Hundreds from the youth group Cockroach Janta Party protested in the Indian capital.

In late May, Sonam Wangchuk joined the protest and said he would fast until the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resigns. On social media, millions watched as Wangchuk said he lost 19 pounds in 19 days. Then last weekend, Indian policemen stormed the protest site and dragged Wangchuk into an ambulance. For many students, like Kajal Singh, that was the turning point.

She says Wangchuk is a role model for many. The government first ignored him, then detained him. So on Monday morning, she slipped out of her house and joined thousands as they marched to the Parliament. That day, India's capital turned into a battleground.

What you can hear in the background are tear gas shells that are being lobbed by protesters. The protesters have also retaliated by throwing stones at the police. The organizers were insisting that this should stay peaceful, but things seem to have spiraled out of control right now.

After weeks of silence, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, said on X that his government would punish all those involved in the exam paper leaks. But he said nothing about the education minister's resignation. Political analyst Sushant Singh says this is in line with Modi's authoritarian style.

It's a government which believes has the mandate and the will of the people, and anybody who presents or opposes them is somehow doing it out of bad faith.

But now thousands more are marching across Indian cities.

Protesters say they won't stop because democracy, they say, means accountability.