India’s Cockroach Janta Party protest called off after education minister quits

India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has called off its five-week-long protest, hours after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

Pradhan announced his resignation on X in a post in Hindi saying he “respected the aspirations, dreams, and expectations of the youth” and was “pained by the events” of the past few days.

The CJP was formed after the chief justice of India described some unemployed young people turning to journalism and activism as “cockroaches”. He later said he was referring specifically to people with “fake and bogus degrees”, but by then, the term had taken on a life of its own. The movement is led by Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old political communications strategist and former student at Boston University. It quickly gained a huge following online, turning one of the most reviled insects into a symbol of defiance and resilience with 26 million followers on Instagram.

The protests gained global attention after activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk joined them on 28 June and began an indefinite hunger strike in support of their demands, which include reforms to India’s education system and greater accountability over exam paper leaks. The CJP has called Pradhan’s resignation a win for democracy and thousands of jubilant supporters continue to celebrate at Jantar Mantar, the main protest venue in Delhi.

An online satirical campaign with an AI-generated cockroach as its mascot, the CJP is not a real party but has evolved into a powerful platform for young people’s anxieties and dissent. The protest has been the most visible expression of public anger against Prime Minister Modi’s government in recent years and gained momentum after Monday’s police crackdown on people marching to parliament left dozens injured.

Several hours after the CJP announced the end of their protest and its leaders left the site, crowds were still gathered at the venue into the night. Many told the BBC they had waited for this day for weeks, and were not in the mood to leave without celebrating. The site is increasingly looking like the centre of a party, with volunteers doing their best to manage the crowds. A large number of police are deployed around the area, but they say they will intervene only if they see breaches of the law.

Over the course of the protest, most of India’s major opposition political parties, activists and many celebrities turned up to show solidarity, stating that they used to support Modi but have since changed their stance, as many young people are entering an economy where quality jobs are scarce, automation is reshaping the workplace and opportunities overseas are becoming harder to access. This event is significant when a major pillar of Modi’s government is gone, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government might be facing an actual political crisis since its reign.