Youth-led Cockroach party clashes with police at India Parliament march

Thousands of young protesters tried to march to India’s Parliament on Monday, pressing for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over exam leaks. NPR reported that the confrontation marked one of the largest public tests yet for the Cockroach Janta Party, a youth-led movement that began as satire and has turned into a broader campaign over corruption, education and jobs.

The demonstrators, whose name means Cockroach People’s Party, have been camped for more than a month at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest area in New Delhi. On Monday, authorities blocked roads, shut nearby metro stations and cut mobile internet around the protest, according to NPR.

NPR reported that riot police used tear gas and wooden sticks to disperse the crowd in central Delhi. Delhi police denied using violence, while protesters said officers struck dozens of people; local news reports said some demonstrators threw stones, injuring about 50 officers.

Demands over exams and arrests

The group’s central demand is Pradhan’s resignation after alleged leaks involving national exams used for higher education and public teaching jobs. The latest case involved a file said to contain questions that circulated on messaging apps before a May medical entrance exam taken by more than 2 million aspiring doctors, according to ThePrint and NPR.

Local media reported that at least a dozen students died by suicide after learning they would have to sit for a re-exam. Cockroach Janta Party spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said the movement is seeking compensation for the families of those who died, along with the release of environmentalist and education activist Sonam Wangchuk.

Wangchuk had joined the protest and began a hunger strike. According to a party statement cited by NPR, he lost more than 18 pounds in 18 days before plainclothes police took him from the protest site in an ambulance over the weekend.

Pradhan has refused to quit. In an interview with NDTV cited by NPR, he described the protesters as a “B-team of terrorists” trying to divide India. Movement founder Abhijeet Dipke rejected that accusation.

From insult to online movement

The Cockroach Janta Party took its name from remarks by Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant during a May hearing. The Indian Express reported that Kant compared unemployed young people who criticize judges online to cockroaches; he later said he had been misunderstood.

Dipke, 30, started the group days later as an online parody. NPR reported that the movement drew millions of social media followers and backing from activists, film figures and some opposition politicians. The Indian government blocked the party’s first X account, citing national security concerns, according to the Indian Express.

Dipke told NPR he comes from a Dalit family and grew up seeing poverty in his grandparents’ village in central India. He also said he studied public relations at Boston University, returned to India after the parody spread online and began the sit-in in New Delhi.

Job anger behind the protests

The protests have widened beyond exam leaks into frustration over employment. India’s economy has grown by more than 7% in most years over the past decade, according to IMF data cited by NPR, but economists told the broadcaster that many young Indians are not seeing stable opportunities.

Rosa Abraham, an economist at Azim Premji University, told NPR that about 40% of Indian university graduates under 25 are unemployed, among the highest rates in decades. She said India is producing graduates faster than it is creating suitable jobs.

Bhanu Joshi, a political scientist and co-founder of Data Action Lab for Emerging Societies, told NPR that successive governments have struggled to create enough work for young people. He said the Modi government has leaned on welfare or unemployment payments rather than solving the underlying jobs problem.

On Monday, Cockroach Janta Party spokespeople Saurav Das and Ranka said Health Minister J.P. Nadda met representatives of the movement for 10 minutes and asked for time to discuss their demands. NPR said Pradhan did not respond to its questions and BJP spokespeople did not respond to interview requests.

This story draws on original reporting from NPR.