India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday after five weeks of protests demanding his departure over a medical entrance examination paper leak. The satirical Cockroach Janata Party, or CJP, led the campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a selfie video on Instagram on Thursday, expressing pain over protesters’ hardship and promising remedial measures, but thousands gathered in Delhi were not satisfied.
Protesters had held their position at Jantar Mantar a day earlier despite a police assault, and their movement inspired demonstrations across India. Young CJP supporters openly mocked Modi through rap, placards and graffiti. Sanjay Srivastava, an anthropology professor at SOAS University of London, said a large section of those protesting were actually Modi supporters, making this movement different from earlier protests.
Political analyst Amitabh Tiwari said the paper leak was only the starting point, with youth unemployment, anxiety and reduced technology-sector jobs linked to AI use also feeding discontent. Forty percent of India’s population is aged 18 to 40, while only 10 percent of the Lok Sabha is in that age group. State elections are due next year in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, where opposition parties may seek to use youth anger.