India’s education minister quits in major win for youth protesters

India’s education minister resigned on Saturday after coming under intense pressure from young protesters, with outrage over leaked examination questions compounded by discontent with the job market and government. Hours after the resignation, protesters agreed to end their protest, a spokesperson of the “cockroach” movement said after talks with the government on Saturday. “Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar [protest site] 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,” Dharmendra Pradhan wrote on social media. “I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations of the country’s youth.” India’s biggest street protests of recent years have become a political flashpoint, posing one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as politicians joined youngsters’ calls to demand action. Protesters on Saturday erupted in celebration at news of Pradhan’s departure. “We have done it,” said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) that led the protests, to loud cheers at the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi. Youngsters at the site shouted “Jai Hind”, a patriotic slogan meaning “Victory to India”. “Young generation is here. This is a win for the constitution,” protester Tluanga Ralte said, walking with a copy of the Indian constitution at the protest site after the minister’s resignation. “We are not a lazy generation.” Pradhan’s resignation is “a victory of peace, patience & perseverance”, activist Sonam Wangchuk, 59, who was on a hunger strike for 26 days to support the youngster’s movement, wrote on social media. The minister announced his resignation on social media just as police fired tear gas to scatter young protesters in New Delhi, hours before their leaders were set to hold another round of talks with ministers. A minister since Modi first took office in 2014, he has held the petroleum and natural gas, steel, skill development and education portfolios, becoming education minister in 2021. His father was a veteran BJP leader and served as a junior federal minister between 1998 and 2004. Health minister J. P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh, a junior minister in Modi’s office, later held a joint press conference with some CJP leaders at which the CJP announced the end of its protests under agreement that the government will not take action against any protesters. Thousands of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement had been protesting since June, but anger boiled over since police on Monday injured dozens of students, launching baton charges and firing tear gas to deter crowds of protesters marching on parliament. The protests, led largely by young people and triggered by discontent over leaks of question papers for high-stakes entrance exams, reflect anger over job scarcity, corruption and government accountability. “I see the resignation as a step to contain the student protestors. The pressure was becoming too much for the government. I think Modi sensed that the mood was turning against him and he wants to ensure this does not escalate,” said independent political commentator and author, Kingshuk Nag. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, independent political commentator, said: “Modi is not a person who instinctively bows to public pressure of protests.” Federal authorities even on Saturday restricted access to the internet and to 18 metro stations to try to limit the protest in the capital, the latest day of such restrictions. At least 1,000 police officials stood nearby guarding the area, according to Reuters journalists at the site. The leak of the high-profile medical college entrance test paper in May, which led to the cancellation of results and the government ordering a retest, affected two million young people. On the CJP’s next move, Mukhopadhyay said the party is likely to press for compensation for families of students who committed suicide following the examination paper leak, and to seek action against policemen who beat up student protestors. Ministerial resignations have been rare in Modi’s government, with Pradhan the second minister to resign following a scandal since Modi came to power in 2014. M.J. Akbar resigned as junior foreign minister in October 2018 to fight allegations of sexual harassment made by more than a dozen women during India’s #MeToo movement. India’s opposition parties are likely to “try to capitalise on the situation”, author Nag said. “The opposition parties will have to take up the issue of broad-based education reforms in parliament. The entire opposition may not be completely united, but I do anticipate a large number of opposition parties working together on this issue,” Mukhopadhyay added. Harsh Ramaswamy, an independent political commentator, said that Pradhan’s resignation had come a bit late. “He should have resigned at the beginning of the student agitation. Then all this mess could have been avoided. The BJP would have had an easy path, but now people will talk about this incident and the fact that he did not resign initially,” he said. Ramaswamy said the BJP has lost some of its “moral high ground”, which it criticised the Congress Party for in the past. “I think these student protests will ease because their basic demand was that they wanted (Pradhan) to resign. The next step is a discussion in Parliament. This incident has also given the (main opposition) Congress party a bit of an edge over the BJP,” he added.

India’s education minister quits in major win for youth protesters

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}India’s latest street protests have been a challenge to PM Narendra Modi as politicians joined youngsters’ calls ‌to demand action

India’s latest street protests have been a challenge to PM Narendra Modi as politicians joined youngsters’ calls ‌to demand action