{"id":5964,"date":"2026-07-24T10:16:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=5964"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:16:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:16:51","slug":"indias-youth-leaders-hold-talks-with-government-amid-nationwide-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=5964","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Youth Leaders Hold Talks with Government Amid Nationwide Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leaders of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement began talks with the government on \u200bFriday to try and resolve a face-off over national examination paper leaks, although they will not halt nationwide protests, a spokesperson for the group said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talks between two senior government \u200cministers and two leaders of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at the Constitution Club near parliament came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting has raised hopes that the two sides could be moving toward a breakthrough in the crisis in which tens of thousands of angry youth have converged on the capital Delhi to demand the resignation of the education minister over the paper leaks scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests represent the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014. \u200bOpposition parties have echoed the movement’s demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We hope that the government comes with an open mind and it will listen to the \u200bpeople of this country who have been out on the roads for so long,” CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said late on Thursday night. “We will explain our demands to \u2060them in greater detail. And we hope that the government will listen to us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two sides had held a preliminary round of talks on Monday and the government had said it would consider the demands of \u200bthe protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nationwide protests would, however, continue, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is now a mass movement. The CJP will continue its protest until (Education Minister Dharmendra) Pradhan resigns,” he told reporters. “This is the only solution to \u200bbring this to an end.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters insist on resignation of education minister<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no new comment from the government on the talks, but a \u200bsenior minister said on Thursday that the government was always open to talks, for however long it would take and that it would not “stand on prestige”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young men and women at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, however, said they would continue to insist on the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to fix accountability for the mess in the national examinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We will continue to protest till Dharmendra Pradhan is terminated,” said Sudesh Singh, as thousands of \u200bprotesters chanted slogans and the size of the crowd grew slowly. “He should not be given another position. If we stop here, then we will compromise the future of our children.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests by the CJP \u200bbegan as an online satire and involved only a few hundred young people when they were first launched. But it grew to pull in millions of online followers after the cancellation of a national medical college entrance test in May after the \u200cquestion paper was \u2060leaked, affecting about 2 million students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tens of thousands of supporters of the movement marched on parliament in violation of a ban on Monday and clashed with police when they were pushed back with tear gas and beaten with batons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence was reported again on Wednesday night when more than 10,000 protesters gathered at the protest site in central Delhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement’s surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as job shortages, as well as frequent exam leaks, analysts say, and warn that the government should effectively address the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delhi metro shuts stations, mobile internet disrupted<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, authorities shut 16 metro stations, mobile internet services and curtailed \u200bbusiness in central Delhi where the protesters have \u200bbeen camped – seen as an attempt to curb \u2060the demonstrations – inconveniencing thousands of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Delhi Metro Rail Corp. said it was shutting down 17 stations again from early on Friday morning until further instructions, the third time this week it has resorted to such a large-scale closure of the system, which is the lifeline of the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile internet services in the \u200barea were disrupted again on Friday morning, with Reuters journalists reporting patchy or no connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government had extended the mobile internet shutdown until midnight on Friday, two industry \u200bsources told Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal cabinet \u2060will meet on Friday and discuss a draft to amend laws to punish culprits behind exam paper leaks and get it approved by parliament at the earliest, Modi said late on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the protesters have rejected the proposal, saying the examination system should be fixed to prevent leaks in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth-led, street protests in neighbouring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have brought down governments in recent years and Modi\u2019s government should go beyond words to engage with \u2060protesters and address \u200btheir anxieties, analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although national elections are due only by April 2029, key states like the most populous, Uttar Pradesh, run by \u200bModi’s party, his home state of Gujarat, and Punjab, vote next year and anti-government sentiment could have an impact, they warn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement has also seen a sharp spike in invective, online criticism, jokes and memes targeting Modi, a nationalist leader with a large, popular following. This \u200bindicates less fear of Modi, whose supporters quickly, often angrily, spring to his defence, analysts say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leaders of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement began talks with the government on \u200bFriday to try and resolve a face-off over national examination paper leaks, although they will not halt nationwide… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2544,19],"class_list":["post-5964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-cjp-protest","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\nIndia\u2019s Youth Leaders Hold Talks with Government Amid Nationwide Protests - World Watch Alert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=5964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India\u2019s Youth Leaders Hold Talks with Government Amid Nationwide Protests - 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