Police cane supporters of India’s cockroach movement as thousands gather for march
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- Hundreds of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement marched despite a police ban, demanding the education minister’s resignation over exam paper leaks.
- The movement grew after activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike and has gained millions of social media followers and opposition support.
- Wangchuk will end his fast if the government takes responsibility or allows protesters to meet lawmakers, highlighting youth frustration over unemployment and corruption.
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A demonstrator waves an Indian national flag at a protest site ahead of a planned march by supporters of India's Cockroach Janta Party on July 20.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI – Supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement were caned by police on July 20 as they sought to march on Parliament in the capital New Delhi, despite the authorities denying permission for the protest.
The months-old movement and the planned protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term in office, garnering millions of supporters on social media and mobilising support on the ground.
A police decision to forcibly move hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital on July 18 has galvanised the movement, with thousands of supporters arriving through the night at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi for the march on the opening day of Parliament’s monsoon session.
Delhi police held meetings with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, but no consensus had yet been reached, Sachin Sharma, Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police, told Reuters.
“The protest site has already run out of space and this can lead to an untoward situation,” he said, adding that there were around 10,000 protesters on the morning of July 20.
Scores of police and paramilitary security personnel were also deployed at the site, threatening a stand-off close to Parliament if the march was to go ahead. Television visuals showed police caning protesters in a heavily barricaded area.
Delhi police denied any use of force and said the “protest is being handled professionally”.
Protesters chanted slogans as they arrived peacefully in a rainy central Delhi.
“Quit, quit,” the protestors chanted. “Dharmendra Pradhan, quit”, “Narendra Modi, quit”, they chanted in Hindi, referring to the education minister and the prime minister, respectively.
“The administration is trying to open talks with the government... They have come very late, but we have opened our hearts and said that we are willing to talk to them,” Saurav Das, chief CJP spokesperson, told the ANI news agency.
The CJP movement began after national medical school entrance test papers were leaked in May, affecting more than two million students as it forced them to sit the test a second time.
“All these leaders in power are illiterate, and I am here to protest because we do not want question papers to leak,” said Adi Nathan, 21, a student from Meerut city, about 100km from the capital. “This should come to an end.”
Mohammed Tabrez, 22, a student preparing for competitive examinations that allow students admission into professional courses or jobs, said he had come from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh state, about 165km away.
“We want this corruption to end,” he said. “We want all the frauds in paper leaks, in competitive examinations to end and this is the reason I have come here.”
Activist sets terms to end his fast
The CJP initially drew support largely online, amassing 22 million followers on Instagram within days. It has since drawn the support of some opposition parties.
In June 2026, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in seeking the resignation of Pradhan. Wangchuk joined them on June 28, launching an indefinite hunger strike at the site.
In a handwritten note from hospital posted on his X account on July 20, Wangchuk said he would end his fast if the government takes accountability for recent failures in the education system and for paper leaks, or if CJP protesters are allowed to reach Parliament and have lawmakers assure them that the issues would be taken up in the chambers.
He said he would end the hunger strike if lawmakers and leaders of various parties met him in hospital and gave him the same assurances since his health did not allow him to march on parliament.
The rise of the CJP reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues like high youth unemployment and frequent examination paper leaks, analysts say.
Unemployment in 2025 stood at 3.1 per cent among those aged 15 and above, government data shows. Youth unemployment, however, for individuals aged 15 to 29 was measurably higher at 9.9 per cent, and even more pronounced in urban areas, at 13.6 per cent, compared with 8.3 per cent in rural regions. REUTERS
