India’s education minister resigns in victory for Cockroach youth movement protests

Supporters of India's Cockroach Janata party in Delhi celebrate after the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters View image in fullscreen Supporters of India's Cockroach Janata party in Delhi celebrate after the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters India’s education minister resigns in victory for Cockroach youth movement protests Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. “Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and ‌across the country, so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of this situation … I have sent my resignation letter to the prime minister,” Pradhan wrote in a social media post. He said he had been “saddened by what unfolded over the last 10 days”, but added: “I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations ‌of the country’s youth.” During his 12 years in power, Modi has cultivated a strongman image and has maintained his ministers are not accountable to public pressure. This was the first time a mass uprising had forced one of his most loyal ministers to resign. The protests were organised by a newly formed youth political movement, the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), which has escalated into a nationwide uprising of youth dissent this week. The core demand of the CJP and its supporters was the resignation of Pradhan over an exam leak scandal that has devastated the lives of millions of students and led to more than a dozen students taking their own lives. View image in fullscreen Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation marks the first time one of Narendra Modi’s ministers has been forced to step down due to public pressure. Photograph: Zuma/Alamy The refusal by Modi to sack his minister over the scandal was widely seen as symbolic of the alleged lack of accountability of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and its repeated failure to address the issues faced by young people, particularly in the country’s flawed education system. CJP organisers confirmed they had called off their demonstration after Pradhan’s resignation and a meeting with senior BJP ministers on Saturday afternoon. In a speech to the crowds gathered at the Delhi Jantar Mantar protest site, CJP’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, saluted the “courage” of students who had turned out in huge numbers, even when they were subjected to police violence. “We have done it,” he said, to cries of “victory to India” and “long live the revolution”. But Dipke also emphasised Pradhan’s resignation was “just the beginning” in the movement’s push for systemic