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Exam leaks spark protests
A youth-led protest movement in India has surged after the leak of national exam questions, with tens of thousands of young people taking to the streets under the banner of the Cockroach Janta (People’s) Party, a name tied to India’s chief justice comparing unemployed youth to cockroaches and parasites.
“everything has shifted to directly attacking [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi”
The protests have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s education minister over exam leak allegations, and Arundhati Roy said the movement has shifted from its initial demands to “directly attacking [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi.”
Roy described the scale as “tens and tens of thousands of young people who have just flooded into the city,” and said the protests have spread to cities across North India beyond their online origins.
On Thursday, thousands of young people staged another sit-in in New Delhi in defiance of Modi’s government, which the sources describe as having “violently cracked down on protesters,” as the movement’s epicentre remained in the capital.
The BBC reported that the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is calling for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, with the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) central to the dispute after allegations that questions had been leaked and a subsequent government inquiry confirmed the leak.
Wangchuk ends fast
Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike aimed at pressuring the government to respond to the protests’ demands, and Al Jazeera said activists would continue the agitation until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan steps down.
Wangchuk said he ended his fast after “a long negotiation on various conditions and in view of possible violence in the country,” according to Al Jazeera, and NBC News similarly reported that demonstrators vowed to press on despite his decision.
In New Delhi, the BBC said the CJP’s protest site is Jantar Mantar, described as a “300-year-old observatory in central Delhi,” where police tried to disperse crowds with baton charges and tear gas after protesters tried to push through barricades.
The Guardian reported that Modi vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up punishment for officials accused of leaking examination papers, but it also said the offer was rejected by the Cockroach Janta party as “It’s a Band-aid.”
Opposition figures and government ministers traded accusations over the protests and the exam-leak record, with the Guardian quoting Rahul Gandhi saying there had been 152 exam paper leaks across the country over the past decade without a single conviction.
What comes next
Modi’s first public remarks on the movement included a promise to set up fast-track courts and a warning that “Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared,” as the government sought to quell protests that have rocked Delhi.
“Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared”
The Guardian said an estimated 50,000 people protested in Delhi on Monday after police denied them permission to march on parliament, and it reported that by Wednesday more than 1,000 people remained camped at Jantar Mantar despite heat and humidity.
The BBC said protesters continued to gather around the clock after the crackdown, and it reported that Congress MP and leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi staged a protest outside Modi’s residence because the party said it had not been allowed to raise the issue in parliament.
In a separate account, Al Jazeera said the CJP’s demands include “10 million rupees ($104,000) in financial assistance for each of the families of more than 20 students who have died by suicide,” tying the next phase of the standoff to compensation and Pradhan’s resignation.
NBC News added that Modi defended his government’s decision to let 2 million students retake medical entrance exams and said fast-track courts would prosecute cases involving examination paper leaks, while protesters said the response fell short and hundreds returned to the streets even as authorities shut 18 metro stations.
