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By Saurabh Sharma and Francis Mascarenhas
NEW DELHI – India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement said it would continue its protest demanding the resignation of the education minister on Tuesday, a day after violent protests disrupted central Delhi, injuring scores of protesters and police personnel.
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Thousands of protesters from Delhi and nearby cities and towns gathered to march on parliament on Monday, joining a movement that began as an online satire but has turned out to become the biggest challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term.
The months-old movement by the self-named Cockroach Janta Party has drawn the support of millions of young, Gen Z Indians who are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over examination paper leaks that affected more than 2 million students in May.
It says the leaking of the papers for a national entrance test to medical school in May – which forced students to re-test, and led to some taking their own lives – was a sign of deep-seated corruption in education.
Nearly 180 people were injured and taken to nearby state-run hospitals on Monday, with a majority of them discharged after first-aid, after clashes between the protesters and security personnel in which police used cane charges and tear gas.
Delhi Police said that the injured included more than 118 security and police personnel and 60 protesters. Seventy protesters had been detained and legal action would be initiated against them, it said in a statement late on Monday.
Early on Tuesday, about 150-200 protesters gathered at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, chanting slogans amid a mild drizzle. Security remained tight with paramilitary personnel patrolling parts of central Delhi and barricades slowing traffic.
“The protest against the Education Minister continues at Jantar Mantar,” the CJP movement said in a post on X.
“We could have done better. I could have done better to protect you from the inhumane actions of the Delhi Police,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said in a post on X, apologising to supporters, especially girls who he said were beaten by male police officers.
The movement galvanized after the support of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who began a hunger strike on June 28, but was forcibly moved to a hospital by the authorities on Saturday.
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UNDERLYING DISCONTENT TO REMAIN MODI’S CHALLENGE, ANALYST SAYS
“They beat us black and blue and they damaged our protest site,” Sahil Singh, a protester from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh told Reuters. “We want accountability to be set with Pradhan’s resignation.”
On Monday, Health Minister J.P. Nadda met two CJP leaders and sought time to discuss their demands within the government.
The demands include the release of Wangchuk, Pradhan’s resignation and compensation of 10 million rupees ($104,000) for each student who died by suicide following the leak. About a dozen students took their own lives after the exam paper leak, local media reported.
The CJP’s surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians including job shortages as well as exam leaks, which they say happen frequently.
Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in last month seeking Pradhan’s resignation. Some leaders from the opposition and social media influencers also joined the protest on Monday.
Opposition parties criticised the government for using force against young protesters. Leaders of Modi’s party said the violence seemed orchestrated.
Analysts said even if the talks succeed in calming the protests, the underlying discontent among dissatisfied youngsters has the potential to present the most formidable challenge to Modi’s government going forward.
“This is an issue which affects everyone … any crackdown against the overwhelmingly peaceful protesters, as the government is wont to do, will only serve to fuel anger,” said Pearl Pandya, senior analyst for Asia Pacific at conflict monitoring research group ACLED.
(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma, Francis Mascarenhas, Sakshi Dayal and Hritam Mukherjee, writing by Tanvi Mehta and YP Rajesh; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.