India’s ‘cockroach’ protest called off after education minister quits

BBC:

India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has called off its five-week-long protest, hours after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

The CJP has called it a win for democracy and thousands of jubilant supporters continue to celebrate at Jantar Mantar, the main protest venue in Delhi.

An online satirical campaign with an AI-generated cockroach as its mascot, the CJP is not a real party but has evolved into a powerful platform for young people’s anxieties and dissent.

The protest has been the most visible expression of public anger against PM Narendra Modi’s government in recent years and gained momentum after Monday’s police crackdown on people marching to parliament left dozens injured.

Pradhan announced his resignation on X in a post in Hindi saying he “respected the aspirations, dreams, and expectations of the youth” and was “pained by the events” of the past few days.

“Considering the situation at Jantar Mantar and across the country – with the aim of preventing anti-national forces from exploiting it, preserving national unity, ensuring that not a single Indian student’s future gets entangled in legal complexities, and allowing our children to devote their time to studies and focus on building their careers – I have submitted my resignation to the prime minister,” he wrote.

As news of Pradhan’s resignation broke, a visibly emotional Abhijeet Dipke, CJP’s founder, screamed from the makeshift stage at Jantar Mantar: “We have done it.”

A loud cheer went up and huge celebrations erupted with the protesters singing, dancing, shouting slogans and handing out sweets.

Several hours since the CJP announced the end of their protest and its leaders left the site, crowds were still gathered at the venue into the night.

Many told the BBC they had waited for this day for weeks, and were not in the mood to leave without celebrating.

The site is increasingly looking like the centre of a party, with volunteers doing their best to manage the crowds. A large number of police are deployed around the area, but they say they will intervene only if they see breaches of the law.