India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement, whose protests have forced the education minister’s resignation, urged authorities on Monday to release all demonstrators detained in weeks of rallies nationwide. The online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which organised protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said they had received reports of students held in detention, particularly in the states of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.

“Any failure to release those detained or withdraw criminal cases would amount to a breach of public trust,” the protest group said in a statement, adding they would take “further necessary steps” if their demand was not met. The statement comes two days after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister over repeated failures in the conduct of competitive exams that have fuelled anger among millions of young Indians.

The CJP accused the government of backtracking after authorities had assured them that no punitive action would be taken against protesters. The movement has won millions of followers on social media since it was launched in May by 30-year-old public relations graduate Abhijeet Dipke. The movement has since broadened its agenda to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what it describes as Modi’s increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

Tens of thousands of protesters, mainly students, rallied last week in New Delhi and other cities, demanding Pradhan’s resignation and broader reforms of the examination system. Demonstrations in the Indian capital turned violent on July 20 when a crowd attempted to march towards parliament from the Jantar Mantar protest site.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)