India protest leaders to hold government talks as nationwide demonstrations continue

NEW DELHI: Leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party movement are set to meet government representatives on Friday in an effort to defuse a standoff over national examination paper leaks, but the group says protests across the country will go on.

The planned talks were announced hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike overnight, a development that appeared to raise the possibility of progress in the crisis. The protests have drawn tens of thousands of young demonstrators to Delhi, where they are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the exam scandal. The agitation is being described as the biggest youth challenge faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since taking office in 2014. Opposition parties have backed the movement’s demands and disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that opened this week.

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das told reporters overnight that ministers and movement leaders would meet at a neutral venue. He said the protesters wanted the government to engage seriously with their demands.

We hope that the government comes with an open mind and it will listen to the people of this country who have been out on the roads for so long.

Das added:

We will explain our demands to them in greater detail. And we hope that the government will listen to us.

He also made clear that the mobilisation would continue despite the opening of talks.

"We are not backing out."

Das said, adding:

Because real awakening starts from the grassroots and that is what we really need.

Demand for minister’s resignation remains central

There was no fresh official government statement on the talks, though a senior minister said on Thursday that the government had always been willing to engage for as long as necessary and would not stand on prestige.

At Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, where protesters have been gathered, participants said they would continue pressing for Pradhan’s removal in order to establish accountability for the exam controversy. Sudesh Singh said the campaign would not stop until the education minister was removed.

We will continue to protest till Dharmendra Pradhan is terminated.

Singh said. He added:

He should not be given another position. If we stop here, then we will compromise the future of our children.

The CJP protests began as an online satire involving only a few hundred young people, but expanded rapidly and drew millions of online followers after the cancellation in May of a national medical college entrance examination following a question paper leak. The incident affected about 2 million students.

Clashes, shutdowns and legal changes

On Monday, tens of thousands of supporters marched on parliament despite a ban and clashed with police, who used tear gas and canes to push them back. Further violence was reported again on Wednesday night when more than 10,000 people gathered at the protest site in central Delhi.

Analysts said the movement’s rapid rise reflects broader frustrations among young Indians over job shortages and repeated exam leaks, and warned that the government would need to respond effectively to the crisis.

Authorities on Thursday shut 16 metro stations, disrupted mobile internet services and restricted business activity in central Delhi, where demonstrators have been camped, in steps seen as an effort to contain the protests. The Delhi Metro Rail Corp. later said it would close 17 stations again from early Friday until further instructions, marking the third such large-scale suspension this week. Reuters journalists also reported patchy or no mobile internet connectivity in the area on Friday morning.

Late on Thursday, Modi said the federal cabinet would meet on Friday to consider a draft amendment aimed at punishing those responsible for exam paper leaks and to secure parliament’s approval as soon as possible. Protesters, however, rejected the proposal, saying the examination system itself needed to be fixed to stop leaks before they occur.

Youth-led street protests in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have toppled governments in recent years, while analysts warned that Modi’s administration should move beyond statements and directly address the anxieties driving the unrest. Although India’s next national elections are not due until April 2029, key states including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab are set to vote next year, and analysts said anti-government sentiment could carry political consequences. The movement has also triggered a sharp rise in online abuse, criticism, jokes and memes aimed at Modi, which analysts said suggested diminished fear of a leader whose supporters are often quick to defend him.