Leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party, an Indian youth movement, were released Sunday, a day after they were detained ahead of protests against a contentious revision of voter lists. The movement is demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief. The three leaders — Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka — were freed on…
Indian authorities deployed a sweeping security crackdown across New Delhi and detained thousands of protesters on Saturday. India’s youth “Cockroach” movement had sought to intensify a nationwide campaign against a contentious voter list revision that has fueled anger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and election authorities. Police moved to break up the…
DISCUSSIONS are happening about how so many of the young protesters that rocked the Modi government recently came from families that have been faithfully voting for the right-wing prime minister. A crucial fact that seems to elude the discussants is that liberal or communist or fascist ideologues are not hatched in hatcheries. Unlike Narendra Modi,…
Two weeks after youth-led protests forced India’s education minister to resign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is grappling with the fallout from one of its toughest political challenges in years. Led by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the demonstrations spread from New Delhi to other cities, broadening from anger over exam irregularities into a…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted to “forgive” protesters who abused him during recent youth-led demonstrations that dealt a rare political setback to his government. The remarks came after the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) mobilised large protests in New Delhi and other cities over examination paper leaks, posing the biggest challenge to…
The Narendra Modi-led government has often declared proudly that its ministers do not resign under public pressure, unlike those from previous governments. However, that hubris was shattered on July 25 when Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s education minister, was forced to resign following widespread youth anger and resistance galvanised by the successful protest in New Delhi led…
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday a special task force to reform the country’s exam system, a day after his government’s education minister resigned. The social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had drawn thousands of demonstrators, mainly students, to the capital’s Jantar Mantar site in New Delhi, forming one of India’s largest anti-government…
India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday after weeks of protests that demanded his removal over alleged leaks in some of the country’s most competitive entrance exams and irregularities in the education system. The nation’s “Cockroach” movement then called off its weeks of protests, saying the government had accepted all of its demand after…
Young CJP supporters in New Delhi — the heart of the protest movement — chant slogans and distribute sweets among the crowd. India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday after mass youth-led protests demanded his ouster in anger over a string of irregularities in potentially life-changing exams. Protesters continuing their sit-in at Jantar Mantar,…
India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday he has resigned from his position, handing a major victory to youth protesters nationwide who demanded that he quit to take responsibility for examination paper leaks. The anti-government protests represented the biggest youth challenge to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014….
