After Rahul Gandhi detained, India's 'Cockroach' vows to persist

Hundreds of protesters remained camped at the Jantar Mantar protest site on Tuesday, many of them calling for changes to the education system. [Getty]India's "Cockroach" party movement vowed Tuesday to press ahead for the resignation of the country's education minister, a day after at least 178 people were injured in protests in New Delhi. Hundreds of protesters remained camped at the Jantar Mantar protest site on Tuesday, many of them calling for changes to the education system. Moreover, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was detained by police on Tuesday after leading a protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence, as demonstrations over education reforms and repeated examination scandals continued to spread across the country. Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress Party, demanded Modi’s resignation, accusing the government of “destroying the future of India’s youth” and refusing to take responsibility for the crisis affecting millions of students. Video footage showed police officers carrying Gandhi onto a bus and removing him from the protest site as supporters attempted to prevent his detention. Gandhi later vowed that the demonstrations would continue despite the police action. Thousands of protesters gathered in the heart of the Indian capital on Monday, demanding minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, in a show of force by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) online movement. The CJP has won millions of followers on social media since its launch in May, fuelling one of the biggest challenges to Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he won his third term in office in 2024. "We won't stop. Pradhan has to be sacked," CJP spokesman Ashutosh Ranka said in a social media post. There were far fewer protesters than on Monday, when the CJP mobilised huge crowds to march on India's parliament. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday urged protesters not to lose hope. "They want to break our spirit," he said, perched on top of a lorry. "Do not let them silence you." Police fired tear gas and baton-charged protesters on Monday to stop them from marching on parliament, marking the biggest street rally in Delhi in about five years. 'Shameful day' At least 178 people were injured in clashes between protesters and security officials, Delhi Police said in a statement late Monday. That included 118 police personnel, including senior officers, it said while criticising what it described as "unruly, aggressive and violent behaviour" by a "violent mob". "During the scuffle, around 60 protesters were also reported to get injured," it added. Protest organisers condemned the "high-handedness" of the authorities and said hundreds of protesters had been injured. "It's a shameful day in the history of Indian democracy that people, honest students, who had come for a genuine issue were brutally beaten by the Delhi police," Ranka told AFP. Ranka, who met senior minister JP Nadda on Monday, said the government had yet to respond to their demands. Protesters said they would not relent. "We have become even more fearless now," said Chandra Pratap Sishwi, 25, who is studying to be a lawyer. "When I saw people being beaten up by the police like that, my blood boiled." The opposition benches demanded on Tuesday a discussion in parliament on the alleged "brutality unleashed on students". "Students were beaten for asking legitimate questions about their own future," said Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party. "If parliament cannot discuss the future of India's youth, what is it for?" Despite rapid economic growth, millions of people in the world's most populous nation still struggle to find stable and well-paying jobs, fuelling discontent. The protests follow a series of examination scandals that have shaken confidence in the country's testing system. Some 2.2 million aspiring medical students sat for a re-examination under tight security last month after the previous test was scrapped following the leak of a question paper. That came on top of another scandal related to the online marking system of tests taken by nearly two million high school students. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju sought to defend the government, saying it had acted swiftly after the paper leaks by arresting several people. He said Modi had called for a "foolproof system" to prevent irregularities in the future at a closed-door meeting with his allies on Tuesday.