NEW DELHI (GNP): India’s Cockroach Janta Party will sit down with government representatives on Friday. Thousands of protesters have no plans to leave. Day and night, they’ve held their ground at Jantar Mantar, refusing to budge until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan steps down.
The demonstrations have run for over a month now, and something that began online has grown into arguably the toughest test Narendra Modi’s government has faced since coming to power in 2014.
Overnight, the story took a turn. Sonam Wangchuk, who had been fasting for 26 days in solidarity with the protesters, finally broke his hunger strike. He didn’t do it lightly.
Wangchuk said the government and lawmakers from across party lines had assured him that examination accountability would be debated in parliament, that families of students who died by suicide after the NEET paper leak would get proper compensation, and that no legal cases would be brought against those who protested peacefully or marched toward parliament. His own words, posted after he ended the fast: this was the “beginning of accountability” — not the end of anything.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke publicly thanked Wangchuk, calling his fast an extraordinary act of courage that stirred the conscience of the nation. He didn’t stop there. Dipke made it plain that the sit-in at Jantar Mantar isn’t ending anytime soon, not until Pradhan resigns. The party, he said, won’t let Wangchuk’s sacrifice count for nothing.
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Modi weighed in too, though not through the usual channels. He posted a vertically filmed video late Wednesday, the kind of format aimed squarely at young people scrolling Instagram, announcing that a tougher law on exam paper leaks was ready for cabinet discussion Friday, ahead of being tabled in parliament. He talked about the distress paper leaks cause students and parents. What he didn’t do was mention Pradhan by name.
CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka wasn’t shy about calling this out, telling the BBC that a midnight video says everything about the pressure Modi is under, and that sacking the minister is the obvious next move.
None of this happened in a vacuum. The anger traces back to the NEET medical entrance exam; nearly 2.28 million students sat for it on 3 May before the paper leak forced its cancellation and a re-test. More than 20 students have died by suicide since then, and some of their families have joined the demonstrations themselves. Things escalated further last Saturday when police pulled Wangchuk from the protest site, citing health concerns, and again two days later when a crackdown on marchers headed toward parliament left dozens injured.
Delhi has tightened security around Jantar Mantar considerably, mobile internet is down in several pockets of the city, and seventeen metro stations are shut. CJP itself started out as a joke, more or less: a satirical online response to a remark from India’s chief justice about unemployed youth.
What began as a joke online has turned into something the government can no longer brush aside. CJP now commands a huge following on social media, and tens of thousands have shown up to protest in person.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
