New Delhi: Sameeksha, a 19-year-old college student who had appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) [NEET (UG)] exam in 2025, said that she had fought with her parents to attend the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protest on Saturday (June 6) demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.“My parents did not want me to come here. If I don’t fight for my rights then who will? My younger sister is in class 12 and will give the board exams next year. We have seen what is happening in the education system from paper leaks to failures in implementing a marking system. There is no political accountability,” she said.Sameeksha was among the protesters who gathered in Jantar Mantar in response to CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s call on social media. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.Sameeksha was among a crowd of hundreds, largely young people, who had gathered at Jantar Mantar, in the first major protest at the designated protest site in the national capital since the 2023 wrestler’s protest. The protest came in response to CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s call on social media. The CJP which began as a satirical online movement, rapidly drew the Gen-Z to a political phenomenon, had asked its 22 million Instagram followers to attend its first offline protest, demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, under whom recent CBSE and NEET examinations turned into fiascos. Over 22 lakh candidates had appeared for the NEET 2026 exam last month across 5,432 centres nationwide. It was later canceled on Tuesday (May 12) due to alleged irregularities related to paper leak. The exam is due to be held later this month.“We are an electoral autocracy. There is anger against the government,” said Jaswant, a lawyer. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.The CBSE on the other hand has come under heavy criticism after students pointed out glaring deficiencies in its newly introduced on-screen marking (OSM) system. While the government has ordered a re-exam for the NEET-UG, and transferred CBSE officials, political accountability has not been fixed.“We are an electoral autocracy. There is anger against the government. If they call us names like anti-national urban naxal we will have no way but to protest. This protest is the outpouring of the frustration of youngsters. Those words which came from the chief justice of India, it led to a satire but it has now developed into a movement and it should take on a national character,” said Jaswant, a lawyer, who had come to the protest.The CJP was formed as a satirical page on social media after May 15 when CJI Surya Kant called youngsters “cockroaches” and “parasites”.While the CJI later issued a clarification saying that the media “misquoted” him, the CJP quickly garnered a huge following on social media and soon surpassed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s follower count on Instagram. The CJP’s page on X was blocked amid “national security” concerns. Dipke subsequently announced that the outfit has launched another account @Cockroachisback.On Saturday, Dipke, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) reached New Delhi from the US, where he is pursuing higher education. While he had earlier appealed to his followers to meet him at Parliament Street police station, where he would seek the police’s permission for the protest, on Saturday morning he asked them to reach Jantar Mantar instead. This, after the police met Dipke at the airport and granted permission for the protest. “India is facing a lot of problems but calling us cockroaches is demeaning us. If you cannot support us, don’t demean us,” said Somil Sheoran, a doctor. Photo: Sravsti Dasgupta.While crowds had started gathering at Jantar Mantar by 10 am, it was only around noon that the footfall appeared to have increased, with hundreds of students, parents, young professionals and teachers thronging the site. Members of Left affiliated student organisations were also present at the site as well as CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and CPI’s Annie Raja who had come to offer support to the protest. Protesters came to the site holding flowers and books as a mark of protest, and held banners demanding Pradhan’s resignation.“India is facing a lot of problems but calling us cockroaches is demeaning us. If you cannot support us, don’t demean us,” said Somil Sheoran, a doctor who had come to the protest, referring to the CJI’s remarks.“The education minister should take responsibility. If Lal Bahadur Shastri can resign over a rail accident, Pradhan should look within himself. Just to show that everything is fine he cannot continue to sit in his chair. The political executive should be held accountable. A political leader needs to take responsibility. That is why he is getting tax payer’s money. If he cannot run the system properly, then he should resign.”“This is an informal opposition which is actually very powerful,” said Robin Maheshwari, a doctor. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.While questions have been raised on how the CJP will move beyond a social movement that has gathered support online to a broad based political movement, along with those about founder Dipke’s affiliation with AAP, protesters at the site said that party affiliations did not matter.“This is an informal opposition which is actually very powerful,” said Robin Maheshwari, a doctor who had come from Punjab’s Bathinda.“People from this generation are being ridiculed, being this space to protest is enough to unnerve the government. When the government is missing empathy and compassion, we need not evaluate affiliations but see this as an informal opposition emerging from the people. The nation is governed by what the youth feels. Maybe this organisation will take a different form in the coming days but it will allow other political parties in the system to refine themselves and that is how balance and betterment will be restored.”Dipke meanwhile addressed the crowd and said that the youth of the country should not be scared of the government.“My mother and sister were crying. They were scared that this government would put me in jail. This fear is not my mother’s alone. In this country, every mother has this fear when their child raises their voice against this government. How long will we live in fear of this government?” he said.In the afternoon, Dipke said that he would give the government time till 5 pm for Pradhan to give in his resignation.Also read: ‘Dharmendra Pradhan Istifa Do’: CJP’s Dipke, Sonam Wangchuk Join Youth to Demand Education Minister’s Resignation“I want to ask you who all will sit for a protest again. Do you want this protest to end? Do you think we should sit here till Dharmendra Pradhan resigns? On all your behalf, I am announcing that we will expand the protest across the country if he does not resign by 5 pm,” he said.Later in the evening, the CJP said that they would give Pradhan another seven days before taking the movement across the country.“We are overwhelmed by the response in just a few days time,” CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das told The Wire.“There was every effort made possible to derail this movement. This movement is leaderless, and there is no one or two leaders. Every student who has been affected is a leader. Youth have realised they have to take responsibility because the government does not care.”While the CJP has not delineated its next steps, and how it plans to take the movement forward, Das said that the youth who had come to the protest have decided that the education system has to change.“We will decide together about how things will be taken forward. We had given an open appeal. Any person who is Gandhian by principle, wants to do a peaceful protest are welcome. Our only aim is the education minister’s resignation,” he said.Activist Sonam Wangchuk who also gathered at the protest site in the afternoon said that the foundation of Viksit Bharat does not lie in Delhi’s private schools but in schools in villages.“The foundation of a Viksit Bharat lies not in Delhi’s private schools but in schools located in villages. The children of all elected representatives should study in government schools. It is fine that you are asking for resignation but we should also demand that all elected representatives send their children to government schools. Those who are running the system don’t have any stake in it. Why will they make it better?” he asked the gathering.Meanwhile, BJP president Nitin Nabin took aim at the protest and Dipke and said “some people, sitting abroad, think that they will dictate the direction to India’s youth.”“Today’s youth wants to work for the construction of the nation, to secure their future. But some people have labeled this country’s youth as anti-establishment. To those who want to drag this country’s youth into negative politics, I warn them that India’s youth will engage in positive politics. We will oppose on the basis of democracy, but we will not allow the standards of democracy to be destroyed,” he said at an event in Ranchi.“Some people, sitting abroad, think that they will dictate the direction to India’s youth,” the BJP chief added, without naming Dipke or CJP.“But India’s youth will not move forward as puppets in the fists of a few people.”