India's youth-led protests: Pressure mounts for government as CJP vows to keep up with demands

[00:00:00]And the Modi administration [music] faces mounting pressure over exam paper leaks as ongoing protest force the suspension of parliament.

[00:00:11]Pressure mounts for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as supporters of the youth-led Kokroach Janata Party continue protests demanding the resignation of the education minister.

[00:00:23]Demonstrators also accusing police of violence after attempts to disperse protesters with tear gas and batons.

[00:00:31]Officials deny any use of brutality. Mr. Modi has promised to punish those responsible for medical entrance exam leaks. The education minister has also responded saying government remains fully committed to reforms and discussing concerns of the youth.

[00:00:52]And Neha Poonia has been tracking the developments for CNA and she joins us live now from New Delhi. Neha, there are reports of Mr. Modi's ministers calling the BJP for talks. Are they any closer to a compromise?

[00:01:09]>> It doesn't appear to be the case, Angela. We heard from the spokespersons of the Kokroach Janata Party that another offer did come from the government. Two senior ministers in Mr. Modi's cabinet including a junior minister in his own office in the Prime Minister's office reportedly reached out to the Kokroach Janata Party offering to meet them to hold talks. Now, this is the second time that this has happened. The first time was on Monday when that march to parliament was planned and protesters had nearly reached the gates of the parliament before the police crackdown as the Kokroach Janata Party is describing it began. And back then the supporters the spokespersons of the Kokroach Janata Party had you know, presented their demands to the senior minister but no promises were made. This time around, the movement is saying that they're ready to hold talks with government representatives, but they will not be going to any minister's office or residence. They're asking representatives from Mr. Modi's party and government to come to Jantar Mantar, the public protest site, where this movement has been concentrated over several days now. They're also saying if that's not possible, they're happy to meet them at a neutral venue. We don't know if the government is going to agree to that proposal, but what we have seen in the last 2 days, and this is important, is that the number of people at that protest site have swelled. On Monday, a march was planned, which is why you saw that massive show of strength, but following police action, reports of police brutality, more and more people have been showing up and staying put there, and that seems to be putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, according to experts. Um, the Congress and the party are also claiming that its Instagram account has been blocked. The founder of the movement, Abhijit Dipke, is blaming the Prime Minister for this. We don't yet know whether this was ordered by the government or not. We'll have to wait and see, but you know, many say that this is an attempt by the movement to try and dial up the pressure. We've also seen, of course, you know, this big growth in the number of people at the site, like I was telling you, and in response on Wednesday, we saw several metro stations in and around that that protest site being shut down by the government, and that's also being criticized by protesters.

[00:03:32]>> And ramping up this that pressure, as you say, several key opposition leaders were now very actively involved. We have Rahul Gandhi as one of them speaking on the issue again today. What does this kind of participation do for the youth-led movement?

[00:03:51]>> Absolutely. I mean, many uh on the ground have welcomed Rahul Gandhi's intervention. It's important to flag that uh this movement has been on the ground in Jantar Mantar for nearly a month. Uh but uh Rahul Gandhi's party, the Congress, and other opposition leaders had not really been engaging with it. But what happened on Monday with the police crackdown, uh that seems to have galvanized the opposition to pick this up as an issue to target the government over. Uh it's given them ammunition, experts say, to target the government in a week when Parliament has come back into session. You saw on Tuesday how Rahul Gandhi held that impromptu protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence. On Wednesday, he's held a press conference where he's made some shocking allegations. He alleges that 75 million students have been impacted by paper leaks in the last one decade. He says about 152 papers have been uh leaked, but there have been zero convictions under Mr. Narendra Modi's rule. We don't yet have a counter from the government on this, but the BJP, Mr. Modi's party, has accused Rahul Gandhi of trying to politicize uh you know, problems that students are facing.

[00:04:53]Listen in to what uh Rahul Gandhi said.

[00:04:57]>> They're protesting peacefully.

[00:05:02]They're asking for their demands.

[00:05:05]They're asking for what this country owes them.

[00:05:12]They're not doing a crime.

[00:05:15]They're simply asking that listen, as students in this country, we deserve an education system that works.

[00:05:31]>> Rahul Gandhi, as well as other senior opposition leaders, also held a protest inside Parliament. They wore black as a mark of protest. They're demanding uh jointly the resignation of the education minister, as well a discussion in Parliament. The government says it's ready to hold that discussion, but it's not engaging with the demand uh to see the education minister resign. But Rahul Gandhi now saying coming out to say that this protest which the BJP has called illegitimate in many ways is a legitimate one and that the opposition is standing by the demands of the students.

[00:06:01]>> Neha, thank you so much for those details. That was a Neha Poonia reporting for CNA from New Delhi.

[00:06:08]Now, India's cockroach movement started as an online joke. But months since it began, it's taking shape as the latest Gen Z movement to reshape national policy. Julie Yoo with more.

[00:06:21]>> Back in May, India's top judge referred to some unemployed young people as parasites and cockroaches during a hearing. It quickly went viral. A 30-year-old Boston University graduate, Abhijit Dipke, created a parody website for the Cockroach Janata Party or CJP, described as a home for India's lazy, unemployed, and forgotten. And chief justice later said that he was misquoted, but the damage was done. The cockroach movement quickly widened into one of the largest displays of public dissent against Prime Minister Modi. It has since amassed more than 24 million followers on Instagram. But the momentum propelled it into a serious protest group calling for education reforms following a series of alleged exam leaks. And millions of have had to force to retake the test. A string of student suicides has also been linked to the scandal. The protests were held over the past months, the culminating in one of the largest anti-government rallies on Monday. Even as that descended into violence, supporters say they will continue demonstrations.

[00:07:25]But the rise of CJP is a drawing comparisons to other Gen Z movements that has swept the South Asian region in recent years, including Bangladesh and Nepal. The Prime Minister's Modi's party, the BJP, earlier dismissed it as an online gimmick and a premeditated conspiracy created by their political rivals.