Thousands of protesters gathered in New Delhi to march on Parliament on Monday, demanding the resignation of India’s education minister over botched entrance exams that affected millions of students.
The protest, one of the capital’s largest in years, was met with road barricades and masses of police, who had warned they would stop unauthorized gatherings.
Public anger has been simmering since May, when more than two million students who took India’s biggest entrance exam for medical school found out that the results would be scrapped because exam questions were leaked and that they would have to retake it. Such leaks have become a frequent problem in recent years and media reports in India that some students died by suicide because of the stress intensified the outrage.
A weekslong demonstration in the heart of New Delhi gained momentum over the weekend after police forcibly removed Sonam Wangchuk, a prominent activist who had joined the protest and has been on hunger strike for more than 20 days. They moved him to a hospital, saying it was for court-ordered essential medical care, despite opposition from his family and fellow protesters.
On Monday morning, crowds chanting slogans against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi poured into Jantar Mantar, the protest site not far from parliament building. The streets leading to the area were jammed with mostly young people, many saying they had come from other parts of India. They were trying to push their way to the site through heavy barricading. In some areas, police were busy welding tall barricades together to stop the protesters from moving toward the parliament.
Mr. Modi’s government has not responded to the protesters’ demands, and the police has warned them not to break the law. The prime minister, who rode a wave of similar grass roots anger against corruption to come to power in 2014, has established an intolerance to public protest, unleashing police and using strict security laws to jail activists.
But his silence over accountability for the exam leaks spurred the protest march on Monday, when he attend an opening session of Parliament.
“People didn’t raise their voices for long, and those in government think that they don’t have to listen,” Amrita Srivastav, 30, a schoolteacher, who was at the protest site on Sunday along with her partner. “We will make sure they hear us.”
What are the protesters demanding?
The protesters are demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister whom they blame for his handling of the scandal after exam papers were leaked and sold.
The tests can be a ticket to a better life, whether for a higher education or for a coveted government job. Many families sell land, or borrow money to pay for private tutoring and give students a chance of success.
Priyam Dubey, 26, a doctoral student, said he was told after taking an entrance exam for a fellowship that could fund his graduate degree that it had been scrapped and that he had to sit for it again.
He said he had also been a victim of exam leaks in 2024. He said no one was being held accountable for what young people like him go through often.
“I gave in the paper, it went really well and next morning when I woke up, the paper got leaked and they canceled the examination,” he said, “I didn’t want to prepare again..
Most of India’s mainstream TV news channels largely ignored the protests, in the latest sign of Mr. Modi’s hold over the country’s broadcast media. But the students and activists flooded social media with Gen Z memes and streaming live scenes.
As the crowds built up, internet was not accessible in the protest area. Some protesters received notifications from their telephone companies saying “as per government instructions, internet services have been stopped in your area till further notice.”
What is the government’s stance?
Protest leaders say the government has not engaged with them or fostered dialogue. Mr. Pradhan has brushed the protesters aside, calling them “the B-team of terrorists.”
Analysts said as part of Mr. Modi’s strongman image, his ruling party has never entertained the idea of a minister being held accountable to public pressure. Mr. Pradhan is seen close to Mr. Modi, having played an important role in recent victories by his Bharatiya Janata Party in key state elections.
Bharati Ghosh, a party spokeswoman, said there were no restrictions on protests as long as demonstrators have the required permissions and are not breaking the law.
“The B.J.P. government senses, understands and responds to its people. We are not sensing that the entire country is angry or frustrated,” she said. Police had arrested those responsible for the leaks, and the law will take its course, she added.
Who are the protesters?
The space for protest and dissent in India’s traditionally raucous democracy has shrunk significantly during Mr. Modi’s 12 years in office. His government has cracked down on dissent and put activists behind bars, creating a chilling effect on public opposition.
The protest was started by the Cockroach Janta Party, a grass-roots movement founded just two months ago that has come to symbolize the anger among India’s youth. It started in response to a rant by India’s chief justice that compared the country’s unemployed youth with cockroaches and parasites. In June, they launched a protest demanding accountability over the series of exam leaks.
When the crowds filled the area around the protest site on Monday morning, the movement’s social media handles posted: “A flood of hundreds of thousands of cockroaches.”
Mr. Wangchuk, a prominent education and climate activist from the Himalayan region of Ladakh, joined the protest movement later and announced a hunger strike until the education minister resigned. His wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, has appealed to the courts over the what she has described an illegal abduction of her husband.
Mr. Wangchuk previously went on a hunger strike last year, demanding that Mr. Modi’s administration fulfill its promise of increased autonomy and development for Ladakh, a strategically important border region. Halfway through his 35-day fast, the protest turned violent. The government blamed him and booked him under strict national security law. While Mr. Wangchuk was released about six months later, his detention was seen by other activists as a warning against dissent.
By Monday, it appeared that the anger over the exam leaks had spread far wider.
“How Sonam was taken away was not cool,” said Sreelakshmi Sreevalsam, 37, a project manager at a tech company who had come from the southern city of Bengaluru for the protest. “After that, I was moved to get out and fight for myself.”
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