What next for India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement after education minister sacked
The weeks-long Gen Z-led protests forced a key Modi minister to resign. Where does the movement go from here? New Delhi, India – Silence descended
The weeks-long Gen Z-led protests forced a key Modi minister to resign. Where does the movement go from here? New Delhi, India – Silence descended over Jantar Mantar and the adjoining Parliament Street in central New Delhi at midnight, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called off its agitation following the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Thousands of students and youth protesters had occupied the protest site near the Parliament of India, demanding education reforms, and posing one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing government. Pradhan’s resignation is being seen as a serious setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government and has further dented Modi’s strongman image, analysts told Al Jazeera. After the streets emptied, authorities moved in with paint rollers and buckets, scrubbing away the remnants of the Gen Z revolt from the walls around the Jantar Mantar. In his last words at the site on Saturday, Abhijeet Dipke, the CJP founder, said: “This is not the end. We will meet again soon.” So, what’s next for India’s youth protesters? What’s the status of protesters’ demands? While some demands from the protests came about and fizzled out in the last few weeks, two central demands remained: the resignation of Pradhan and compensation to the families of students who died by suicide due to paper leaks and exam cancellations that affected millions of students across India. Compensation In a joint news conference on Saturday, where CJP spokespeople sat next to senior ministers, the government agreed to provide compensation, “whatever maximum possible” under the rules. The protesters have demanded 10 million rupees (approximately $105,000) each for about 20 such families. Criminal cases After the police cracked down on protesters marching to the Parliament on July 20, injuring more than 100 demonstrators, the CJP movement garnered an outpouring of countrywide support.
The CJP then added two more demands: no criminal case to be pursued against any protester or organiser of the agitation; and an apology from Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force, a paramilitary force, for the crackdown. The government assured the CJP that no criminal cases would be pursued against the protesters in states governed by the BJP and that all existing cases would be withdrawn. However, there has been a spate of arrests in several BJP-ruled states in eastern India. At least 11 people, 10 of them Muslim, have been arrested and seven criminal cases filed against them in West Bengal, according to media reports. In northeast India’s Assam, six people, most of them Muslims, have been arrested for trying to hold a demonstration in solidarity with Jantar Mantar protesters. In Bihar, three protesters were injured after police opened fire on demonstrators on Saturday. Police apology There were no comments on the CJP’s demands for public apology from the government forces as the government ministers and the CJP leaders shook hands to call off the protests. However, in the days following the reported police excess on July 20, CJP leaders have repeatedly said they would “drag all the policemen to the court for attacking students like goons”, after identifying them from the video footage from the crackdown, recorded by the protesters. Where does the Cockroach movement go from here? The CJP has been avoiding a clear answer to how the movement intends to chart its future path. The group emerged in May this year after Dipke casually asked on Analysts point to Dipke being a Dalit – a community of the former “untouchables” who have been historically persecuted under India’s complex caste hierarchy – as a crucial arc to follow in the coming months.
The BriefWire