NEW DELHI — Hundreds of students and young activists affiliated with India’s rapidly growing Cockroach Janta Party gathered near Parliament in New Delhi on Saturday, clanging steel plates with spoons in a demonstration calling for the ouster of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The protest added to mounting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, with demonstrators citing a pattern of examination irregularities and repeated leaks of test papers. Authorities responded by deploying heavy security personnel, while police used cameras and drones to keep watch over the crowd.
Protesters held up signs and made their voices heard through the noise of banging cookware, all united behind a single demand: Pradhan’s resignation.
“This is just the beginning. If Dharmendra Pradhan doesn’t resign or if no action is taken regarding this issue, this protest will not end here,” said CJP supporter Deepak Kumar.
At the heart of the demonstrations is outrage over a leaked exam paper for a major nationwide medical program. The test paper was distributed last month through the social media messaging platform Telegram. In response, authorities postponed the exam and temporarily blocked access to Telegram across India. The exam is now set to take place on Sunday, and the government has stated the leak is currently under investigation.
For many students, the issue is deeply personal. “We study in poverty, live in poverty for 24 hours everyday, for years at length, and after that our (exam) papers get leaked. Will I not get angry at this?” said student Vicky Kumar.
The Cockroach Janta Party itself was born out of controversy in May, when a Supreme Court judge named Surya Kant sparked widespread anger by comparing unemployed young people to “cockroaches.” Rather than taking offense, supporters reclaimed the insult as a badge of toughness and resilience. That decision helped the group build an audience of more than 22 million followers on Instagram.
Since then, the movement’s focus has broadened beyond the original remarks, now encompassing concerns about joblessness, the rising cost of living, and holding the government accountable. The CJP blends sharp political criticism with self-deprecating humor, with members jokingly describing themselves as unemployed and perpetually online. Videos and memes poking fun at corruption, unemployment, and political dysfunction have racked up millions of views, and numerous parody accounts have also adopted the cockroach as a satirical symbol of political commentary.
