An activist has ended his 26-day hunger strike that helped to galvanize India’s youth-led “Cockroach” protests, turning them into one of the most sustained challenges to the country’s leadership in years.
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But demonstrators vowed Friday to press on despite Sonam Wangchuk’s decision to end his fast, as the protests spread from the capital New Dehli to other cities around the country including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
Wangchuk’s fast began amid protests about education reforms after alleged leaks in some of the country’s most competitive university entrance exams, but quickly became a lightning rod for public anger over education, economic inequality and the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Wangchuk said in a post on X that he ended his fast after appeals from dozens of members of parliament and following “a long negotiation on various conditions and in view of possible violence in the country.” Conceding that not all his demands were met, he said two federal lawmakers were present when he finished.
However, Abhijeet Dipke, a Boston University graduate and founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), said the protests will continue until India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.
“After all of this, we don’t accept anything less than a resignation,” he told supporters on Friday as protests showed no sign of dying down. CJP leaders have said they started talks with government officials at a neutral venue, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the standoff.
The CJP began as a satirical youth political movement after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant compared unemployed young people to “cockroaches.” But the movement has soared in popularity and mounted the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 12 years in power.
On Thursday night, Modi offered his first public comments, posting a video on Instagram addressing the young protesters and concerns about the exam paper leaks.
“I know the paper leak is not a trivial matter,” he said in his video. He also defended his government’s decision to let 2 million students resit medical entrance exams.
He also announced fast-track courts would prosecute cases involving examination paper leaks.
But protesters said his response fell short of their demands for accountability and hundreds of people returned to the streets of New Delhi on Friday even as authorities shut 18 stations the city’s metro network, disrupting a vital mode of transportation for its 23 million residents.
