Student protests in India

Indian minister resigns after protest movement demands

India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is resigning, Al Jazeera reports. The student movement "Cockroach Party", which has been putting heavy pressure on the government in recent weeks, has had the minister's resignation as its main demand.

In a letter published on X, Pradhan himself writes that he is resigning to preserve national unity. He also warns that "anti-national elements" are trying to exploit the protests for their own purposes and mislead students.

Modi tries to reach young people on Instagram - breaks record

The student protests sweeping across India have prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to test a new approach on social media to reach young people, writes Bloomberg.

In several posts published in recent days, the Prime Minister has spoken directly into what appears to be the selfie camera on a mobile phone.

According to The Next Web, one of the clips on Instagram Reels has received over 300 million views in 24 hours. 75-year-old Modi thus breaks the previous record of Youtuber Ishowspeed, which was set in connection with the World Cup.

Whether this is enough to win the trust of the protesting students is unclear – many of them have already started to make fun of the prime minister’s new film technology.

The cockroaches agree to end the protests

The student movement “Cockroach Party” has agreed to end its large-scale demonstrations in India, a spokesperson announced according to Reuters.

Just hours earlier, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, which had been one of the movement’s most important goals.

Further talks between the movement and the government are to take place in four weeks, reports The Hindu. The cockroaches’ other goals mainly concern measures against those behind the invalidation of two million medical entrance exams, as well as compensation for the families of students who took their own lives after the scandal.

The “Cockroach Party” protest movement — it’s about the matter

• The Indian youth movement “Cockroach Party” has grown from a satirical online phenomenon to a mass movement with over 22 million followers on Instagram.
• The movement was started by recent graduate Abhijeet Dipke after India’s Chief Justice called unemployed young people “cockroaches”.
• Two days earlier, two million students had been forced to retake their medical entrance exams after the exam questions were leaked and sold to the highest bidder. At least 20 students took their own lives after the scandal.
• The protests have included hunger strikes, demonstrations and petitions.
• The movement has grown to encompass broader demands for education reforms, measures against youth unemployment and corruption, and has received support from parents, opposition politicians and other community groups.