India student protests keep up pressure on Modi government

Crowds of supporters of India's online "cockroach" movement grew on Wednesday at a New Delhi protest site, while their demands for accountability and reform following examination scandals echoed in rallies across the country.

The protests, led by the social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, have emerged as one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since his re-election in 2024.

The campaign also got a boost on Wednesday inside parliament from opposition lawmakers including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party who demanded the government apologise for a police crackdown on a major rally on Monday.

Protesters demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan have refused to leave the Jantar Mantar site in the heart of the Indian capital, with crowds swelling to several thousand people on Wednesday, according to AFP correspondents.

"The government is ruining our future," said Pooja Kushi, a 19-year-old student who came from the northern state of Haryana with her brother and two friends.

The movement has spread beyond the capital, with smaller demonstrations springing up across the country on Wednesday including in major cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru.

In eastern Patna city, police used tear gas and water cannons at a rally demanding Pradhan's resignation, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The protesters, most of them young students, got a major boost on Tuesday after opposition parties threw their weight behind the movement, staging a sit-in outside the prime minister's residence.

Gandhi, 56, who was briefly detained on Tuesday, appeared in parliament on Wednesday dressed in black, demanding accountability from the government.

He later told reporters students had his full support, "and we are going to ensure that you are protected and your future is protected".

The CJP movement, which has millions of followers on social media, emerged in May initially as a satirical response to Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likening young people to "cockroaches" and "parasites" during a court hearing.

The movement has broadened its agenda to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what it describes as Modi's increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

On Monday, police fired tear gas and baton-charged tens of thousands of demonstrators as they tried to march to parliament on the opening day of the monsoon session, in the capital's largest street rally in five years.

As tensions escalated, protesters responded by hurling stones.

Rights groups have accused police of using excessive force, with Amnesty International questioning the "legality, necessity, and proportionality" of their actions.

At the Jantar Mantar site, where a group of activists has been camping for nearly a month, one protester on Wednesday said it was the first time the country's youth had an opportunity to raise their voice.

"I am scared because on Monday I saw the police beating people and using force, but we have no choice but to keep our movement going," Kavya, a 20-year-old student who gave only his first name, told AFP.

"If we stop, it will be hard to get the movement going again," he said, adding it was difficult to imagine a future in India.

"As soon as you raise your voice, you're silenced," he said. "Who wants to stay in this country when you see what's happening here?"

"The whole system has to change" and political leaders must be "held accountable for their actions", Kavya added.

The protests follow several exam irregularities, including the leak of India's medical entrance examination paper that forced more than two million candidates to retake the test.

Another dispute involving the online marking of examinations taken by nearly two million high school students has also fuelled public anger.

Pradhan, the education minister facing growing pressure particularly over the medical school examination, said the government remained committed to reform and discussing the issue in parliament.

"We owe them (students) answers, reforms and accountability," he said in a social media post late Tuesday, in his first public comments since Monday's protests.

"They deserve certainty over chaos, solutions over slogans and responsibility over disruption."

At the Jantar Mantar protest site, where police set up yellow barricades, 25-year-old activist Aakash said he will keep going "until a new government is in place".

"I want to build a new India... we have the support of all of India."