Why are thousands of people protesting for education reform in India?
Watch: From hundreds to thousands: How India’s ‘cockroach’ protest movement grew
In India, tens of thousands of Generation Z protesters took to the streets of the capital Delhi, calling for the resignation of the country’s education minister.
Starting as a satirical online movement only a few months ago, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is today one of the most visible youth movements in India.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why did students take to the streets in Delhi?
Despite its humorous origins, the CJP quickly became a lightning rod for disaffected youth in India, where youth unemployment is high.
Despite its name, it is not a party. The movement is led by Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old political communications strategist and former student at Boston University.
He told the BBC it started as a joke. “I thought we should all get together, maybe just start a platform.”
But after offering the opportunity to sign up for the movement via a Google form, he received tens of thousands of responses.
This propelled it to the status of a serious protest group, and on July 9 it announced that a march to Parliament would take place on July 20. Tens of thousands turned out in Delhi. Hundreds of people also attended protests and candlelight vigils in other cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Goa.
The protest took on added significance due to treatment of Golden Wangchuka well-known engineer and activist.
He began a hunger strike on June 28 in support of the CJP at Jantar Mantar, a 300-year-old observatory in central Delhi that is often the scene of protests.
On Saturday, the 59-year-old man was taken by force to hospitalprovoking outrage among CJP supporters and drawing more attention to the protest movement. He continued to fast in the hospital.
CJP supporters demanded the release of Sonam Wangchuk
Why are they called “cockroach” protesters?
The name Cockroach Janta Party came about in response to comments by the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant.
At a court hearing in May, he reportedly compared unemployed young people who turned to journalism and activism to cockroaches and parasites.
He later clarified that he was specifically referring to people with “fake and fake degrees”, and not Indian youth in general.
The name is a parody of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power since 2014.
From the Internet and in real life, young volunteers from the movement have appeared dressed as cockroaches during clean-up campaigns and demonstrations.
Dozens of people were injured when police tried to disperse the huge crowd on Monday with batons and tear gas.
What does the CJP want?
The CJP mainly protests against the problems it encounters with the Indian education system.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is India’s main entrance exam for admission to medical colleges in the country.
Nearly 2.28 million candidates took the exam on May 3, after studying for months, if not years, for the notoriously difficult test. However, a few days later it was canceled after allegations that the questions had been leaked.
This was a hard blow for the aspirants, who had to retake the exam under high security a few weeks later. The anger over this situation was one of the reasons why the CJP launched its protest.
The organization and their families also claimed that around 20 students committed suicide due to distress after the exam was cancelled.
The NEET exam has also been hit by controversies in 2024.
The CJP is calling for an overhaul of the education system, with greater accountability over alleged leaks of exam papers and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Following Wangchuk’s treatment over the weekend, CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke also called on Modi to resign.
Abhijeet Dipke refused to eat after hunger striker Sonam Wangchuk was taken to hospital, but Dipke responded to calls asking him to end his fast on Monday.
Although it is unclear whether the CJP will achieve its goals of removing the education minister and overhauling the education system, it has had a major impact on India.
Monday’s protest was the largest against Modi’s government that the capital has seen in recent years.
Police tried to disperse the crowd with batons and tear gas after demonstrators tried to break through the barricades. Many people were injured, including demonstrators and police officers.
At the end of the day, police also dismantled the stage and makeshift tents at Jantar Mantar, the main base of the protest near the 300-year-old observatory. But the protesters refused to leave.
People continued to gather at the site around the clock, braving rain and Delhi’s sweltering heat and humidity.
The movement also benefited from the support of a number of opposition politicians.
Reacting to images of Monday’s protest, Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge called police baton firing on protesting students an “attack on democracy.”
All India Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra joined the protesters on Monday morning before heading to Parliament.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also expressed support for the students and protesters gathered in Delhi, saying they should be treated with respect.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday questioned Modi’s silence over the crackdown and asked him to apologize to students.
