- Protest leaders hold talks with senior federal minister.
- Wangchuk seeks permission from hospital to join protesters.
- Heavy crowds at metro stations and roads around protest site.
India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party movement said on Monday a federal minister had promised the government would weigh its demands as thousands of protesters marched on parliament despite police efforts to scatter them with tear gas and cane charges.
The months-old movement and the protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term, drawing millions of supporters on social media before broadening its appeal to opposition parties.
A police decision to forcibly move hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital on Saturday has galvanised a movement demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over examination paper leaks.
Thousands of its young supporters gathered through the night at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for the march on the opening day of parliament’s monsoon session.
“Quit, quit,” the protesters chanted. “Dharmendra Pradhan quit”, “Narendra Modi quit”, they said in Hindi, referring to the education minister and the prime minister.
Scores of police and paramilitary personnel turned out across the capital, stopping protesters as they chanted and waved the national flag.
Health Minister JP Nadda has asked for time to discuss the CJP’s demands within the government, Ashutosh Ranka, the movement’s national spokesperson, said in a post on X on Monday.
The demands include Wangchuk’s release, Pradhan’s resignation and compensation of INR10 million ($104,000) each for exam aspirants who died by suicide, a tally media have estimated at about a dozen.
There was no immediate comment from Nadda or the government on the talks.
The movement also said its founder Abhijeet Dipke was not in detention or under arrest, clarifying an earlier statement that he had been picked up by police.
Protesters demand end to ‘corruption’ in education
The CJP’s surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as few jobs and frequent leaks of examination papers, analysts say.
Reuters reporters saw scores of young people streaming towards the protest site, as police barricades on routes to central Delhi snarled traffic.
Television images showed police cane charges on some protesters in one area, although Delhi police denied use of force, adding the “protest is being handled professionally.”
Reuters journalists also said security officers fired rounds of tear gas near parliament to disperse the surging protesters, while elsewhere, some protesters hurled stones at police.
The CJP movement began after question papers for a national entrance test to medical school leaked in May, forcing some two million students to appear at 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 the city of Meerut, about 100 km (62 miles) from the capital. “This should come to an end.”
Mohammed Tabrez, 22, a student preparing for competitive examinations that are the gateway to professional courses or jobs, said he had come from Amroha in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, about 165 km (103 miles) away.
“We want this corruption to end.”
Activist sets terms to end his fast
Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in last month seeking Pradhan’s resignation. Wangchuk joined them on June 28, launching an indefinite hunger strike.
Wangchuk asked hospital authorities in a handwritten note to let him join Monday’s march, even if temporarily.
Earlier on Monday, he offered to end his hunger strike if the government agreed to three conditions including taking responsibility for what he said were recent failures in the education system and the exam leaks.
He said he would also end his protest if lawmakers and leaders of political parties met him in hospital and assured him the conditions would be met.
