Riot police fired tear gas and used batons in New Delhi as thousands of supporters of the satirical Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) marched towards India’s Parliament on Monday (July 20).
Police in the Indian capital said 60 protesters and 118 police officers were injured in clashes between protesters and security forces. Mobile internet was suspended in parts of the city, including the Jantar Mantar protest site, during the violence.
The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Earlier this year, officials canceled the high-stakes NEET medical entrance exam due to leaked question papers, affecting millions of students and sparking outrage across India.
What is the Cockroach Janata Party of India?
CJP began as an online campaign in May and quickly evolved into a Gen Z street movement, giving voice to a generation frustrated by unemployment, declining opportunities and a failing education system.
The youth-led “cockroach” party is now posing an unexpected challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, prompting a response that combines political outreach with police action.
Modi’s rivals have also tried to move forward and take advantage of the youth’s frustration.
“Does any government behave like this? Use tear gas and lathicharge against students? This is a useless government,” Renuka Chaudhary, a lawmaker from India’s opposition Congress party, told DW.
Lessons from earlier protests in India
The CJP agitation gained fresh momentum over the weekend after veteran reform activist Sonam Wangchuk, whose three-week hunger strike has become a symbol of the protests, was forcibly taken to hospital by the police.
This is not the first time that India has experienced major protest movements. Hunger strikes, famously used by Mahatma Gandhi, remain a common and peaceful form of protest in India.
India Against Corruption (IAC), led by veteran activist Anna Hazare, managed to mobilize millions of people in 2011 and reshape the country’s political landscape. A decade later, year-long farmers’ protests forced Modi to repeal the controversial farm laws. However, the 2023 Olympics wrestlers’ protests over sexual assault allegations achieved few of their goals, despite widespread sympathy.
Analysts say the CJP lacks the nationwide organizational network that the farmers had. Yet like the IAC movement, it has influenced the mood of the wider public.
“This protest is different because it reflects a broad section of Indian society,” said Yamini Iyer, analyst and senior visiting fellow at Brown University. “They are expressing their frustration with a country whose chronically poor education system has left them little hope for a better future.”
“Like the IAC movement, it has drawn the middle class to the streets,” Iyer told DW. “But this is a much more coercive political environment. From anti-citizenship protests to farmer movements, citizens have begun to look beyond political parties to hold governments accountable.”
Police response sparks outrage among Indian protesters
This week’s clashes have done nothing to quell anger among India’s Gen Z.
“Like many youth across India, I am angry about the lack of jobs and the education system that crushes my aspirations. Even though my family supports the BJP, I managed to escape,” Rukmini Singh, a student from Meerut, told DW.
“This was an attack against our children. I saw many young boys and girls injured and bleeding. They will never forget it but the courage these people showed gives me hope,” Vasundara Singh, a teacher from Bihar, told DW.
As the farmers’ protests continue, left parties and student organizations are visible on the ground, helping to mobilize supporters and giving organizational support to the movement.
“After 50 years, youth have taken over Parliament Street,” political activist Yogendra Yadav told DW. “This energy of the students shows that the way to Parliament lies through the streets. It is remarkable.”
Can CJP organize India’s villages as easily as cities?
The increase in protest numbers forced the government to join the movement after dismissing it for weeks.
Along with the police action, senior ministers initiated talks with CJP leaders. Home Minister Amit Shah met cabinet colleagues while Health Minister JP Nadda held discussions with representatives of the movement.
“We will decide how to address the students’ demands,” a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP told DW on condition of anonymity.
Most of the CJP support appears to come from students and India’s urban middle class. The BJP’s strongest electoral base remains in rural India and small towns, where the CJP has yet to prove that its message resonates among young voters.
However, some experts believe that the CJP will do well beyond India’s urban centres.
“This movement is likely to resonate beyond India’s cities as the aspirations of youth in small towns and villages are no different,” political analyst Radhika Ramasesan told DW.
He said, “For a generation that saw education as a path to a better life, the failure of the education system has become a deeply political issue.”
“Youth in rural India no longer see farming or traditional occupations as their only future. Whether the CJP itself will survive is another matter, but the anger and frustration it has harnessed has the potential to reshape politics.”
‘Anger is now on the government’
A movement focused on India’s cities could make headlines without altering the BJP’s political fortunes. But if CJP expands to rural youth, it could pose a broader political challenge.
Commentator Apoorvanand said, “I don’t think it will remain an urban movement.”
“People are constantly moving between villages and cities, and those who witnessed police action will take those experiences home with them,” Apoorvanand told DW.
“The anger is now on the government. Whether this will become a broader political movement depends on the CJP’s ability to broaden its appeal.”
For now, CJP has already achieved something unusual. It has transformed satire into sustained street mobilization, forced the government to talk, and ensured that the concerns of India’s youth remain firmly in the national spotlight.
CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said, “This is a long fight. We have to engage in a very long struggle for this. Because you have to change an entire system, the nexus of that system is very deep.”
Edited by: Keith Walker