The Cockroach Janta party (CJP) protest in India forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, marking the largest mass uprising in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 12 years in power. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
The night before the resignation, Modi addressed his "young friends" in a late-night Instagram selfie reel, thanking them for their "thoughtful suggestions." However, less than 24 hours later, he bowed to public pressure and accepted Pradhan's resignation. Analysts called it a remarkable humbling of a government that has ruled with impunity since 2014.
Last week, a Gen Z movement calling itself the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) mobilized unprecedented protests after a crucial exam paper leak forced 2 million students to retake the test and was blamed for more than a dozen suicides. Pradhan's resignation was their core demand, even as protests expanded into a wider fight for democracy.
On Saturday morning, more people than ever poured into Delhi's historic Jantar Mantar site, and unrest spread to other cities, including states ruled by Modi's Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
The CJP movement captured not only physical space but also online space. Since coming to power, the BJP had effectively controlled the online narrative using its powerful IT cell. But this proved no match for millions of Gen Z memes and reels flooding Instagram, fearlessly insulting Modi and pillorying the government. Modi's attempts to speak directly to youth on Instagram were met with ridicule.
Modi also lost another critical medium: mainstream TV news channels, which had been co-opted by the BJP government over 12 years. Initially, the channels ignored the protests, then suggested they were bankrolled by foreign forces and Pakistani terror groups. Protesters exposed these "lies" on social media. As protests escalated, Modi remained absent from the airwaves.
Pradhan's resignation came when all other options for the government had gone. A ruthless crackdown appeared untenable due to public outcry over police violence on Monday. Professor Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University said: "The online space was totally conquered by the protesters and regime-loving media was seriously delegitimised. The anger was so comprehensive there was no option left but for Pradhan to go."
Varshney noted this was more than the loss of a minister; it was the first time in 12 years the Modi government lost control of the political narrative. "This is a repressive government. It wants obedience, no critical discussion, and generates fear. Now the climate of fear has collapsed."
Analysts say Pradhan's resignation could affect Modi's power over his cabinet. Pradhan was one of Modi's most loyal ministers and helped the BJP win Odisha state for the first time. Political columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta said: "Modi knows once you start firing your most loyal ministers, it sets up incentives for defections. If your cabinet starts to hedge for a future without government backing, that's when you are in trouble."
Before the protests, Modi was riding high on state electoral victories, especially the BJP's first triumph in West Bengal. The BJP appeared to have bounced back from the 2024 elections, but this protest has weakened their grip.