Exam paper leaks, protests and Gandhi siblings' arrest — India's 'cockroach' youth movement explained

Thousands of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement have been camping in the capital, New Delhi, to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term.

Here is a look at what sparked the protests and the situation now.

Why do protesters want Pradhan to quit?

The immediate trigger for the demonstrations was the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), India’s undergraduate medical school entrance exam, after its question papers were found to have been leaked.

About two million students across India took the exam on May 3, but it was later scrapped, with about a dozen student suicides linked to its cancellation.

A re-test was held in June.

Why is NEET important?

The exam is the sole gateway to undergraduate medical courses across India, and millions of aspirants sit for it every year, competing for fewer than 150,000 seats, making it one of India’s toughest entrance exams.

The situation is also symptomatic of broader strains on the country’s higher education system, where grossly limited spots leave millions cramming for months, or even years, and high-stakes entrance exams leave many of them burnt out and in debt.

Have test papers been leaked before?

Exam question paper leaks are fairly common in India, and the NEET questions themselves were similarly leaked in some places in 2024, although a re-test was not ordered at the time.

Other examination papers have also been leaked in the South Asian nation of 1.4 billion people, including those for recruitment of police constables and teachers.

Why is this leak different?

The exam leak this year coincided with the birth of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party satire movement, which appears to have channelled the frustration of the youth into the current protests.

Experts say the group, which amassed millions of Instagram followers within days of being created in mid-May, tapped into the concerns of under-30s, who make up more than half the country’s population, which includes high youth unemployment and the latest exam paper leak.

How has the government responded?

Pradhan says the government is committed to addressing the concerns of the youth and promised exam reforms, while Modi himself has vowed to punish those behind the leaks.

Health Minister JP Nadda met the protesters on Monday and sought time to discuss their demands, which also include the release of fasting activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was taken to hospital last week, and compensation of 10 million Indian rupees each for the students who died by suicide after the exam leak.

What is the situation now?

Two days after tens of thousands of protesters attempting to march on parliament were met with tear gas and baton charges, thousands remain camped at the sit-in protest site in New Delhi, where the movement’s leaders say they will remain until their demands are met.

Opposition groups, including the main opposition Congress party, have also vowed to raise their cause in and outside parliament, seeing it as a new opportunity to corner Modi and his party over an issue that has massive resonance and impacts Modi’s youth vote base.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and his sister and fellow lawmaker, Priyanka Gandhi, and several other senior opposition leaders were detained by police after they refused to end their protest outside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on Tues­day, but were released later.

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