Abhijeet Dipke, head of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) , demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination-related lapses in New Delhi on Saturday.
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As scheduled, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an outfit yet to be registered as a political party, held its first protest on Saturday at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi’s permitted protest site. The event drew a crowd of college-goers, job aspirants, new employees and parents, among others. While the group was able to forcefully highlight its key demand, the resignation or sacking of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, without getting distracted by other issues, the overall turnout did not live up to the social media hype.Many elderly participants at the protest site in the blazing heat expressed their presence was only to support the cause even though it was primarily driven by Gen Z. On the other hand, there were a few elements who were there to “protest against the protest” and did not even hesitate to disclose their intention.Even with its low scale participation, the visuals, including videos from the protest site were all over the social media throughout the day and it helped the organisers to bring the issue of systemic failure of the examination system in particular following question paper leak incidents one after another almost every year in past few years. Participants raised slogans seeking political accountability over alleged irregularities in examinations and recruitment processes and not “bureaucratic excuses.”A lot of people were seen wearing cockroach merchandise, T-Shirts and banners with slogans like “Jai Bhim”, “Godi Media Murdabad” and “Dharmendra Pradhan isteefa do” were written all over.Amid presence of huge number of media professional from both TV and social media, protestors started gathering at the site since morning while leaders were seen announcing to wait till arrival of Abhijeet Dipke, founder of CJP. Dipke, after arriving at Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 10 in the morning drove straight to the protest venue amid tight security as hundreds of people had reached the airport to receive him.Addressing the protestors, Dipke criticised the government for focusing on the organisation’s social media activity rather than addressing issues, including demand for the resignation of Pradhan over alleged irregularities in examinations and recruitment tests. But, he urged his supporters to maintain discipline and ensure that the protest remains peaceful.“My friends, this is a long struggle. It has been a month since we started demanding Pradhan’s resignation on social media, but these individuals are so shameless that instead of taking action, they have been focused on other distractions, like hacking our accounts and getting our posts deleted. You may be able to delete our posts, but you cannot erase us from this space,” said Dipke.Recalling his arrival, he said that just before his flight was about to land, he felt as though he was living his last moments of freedom. “I was fully prepared to sacrifice my freedom for this cause,” he said. Alleging that many people have compromised and ‘sold out’ due to the fear of imprisonment, he said, but the youth and students have not sold themselves.Many of the protestors were seen wearing cockroach masks and holding placards and banners in support of CJP and demand for Pradhan’s resignation. A young person who was seen selling cockroach masks with his friends said that he is a hotel management graduate and has his own cloud kitchen as well as two kiosks.“The cost of each mask is ₹15, but we are selling at ₹30 each to cover our other costs on a no profit no loss basis,” he said. Some gig workers too had come there who said they also support the protest as there is a need to reform education and job sectors, both. They said they are doing the delivery job despite being graduates.Ladakh’s former BJP MP Sonam Wangchuk, who has since quit the party, also attended the protest and extended his support to CJP. He even announced a six-week sit-in if Dipke was arrested. CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI’s Annie Raja and student leaders of Left-leaning organisations also participated in the protest, which ended around 3:30 pm after Dipke started feeling unwell.Many professionally qualified but unemployed youth were also seen at the protest site who call themselves apolitical and wanted a new political formation which should make necessary reforms in the education sector without confrontation and social unrest. They said neither BJP has done anything nor Opposition parties have offered any solution.On the other hand, BJP supporters too assembled there to protest against “the CJP’s protest” and claimed no minister during UPA had resigned on any charge, though could not answer when several names of UPA ministers were mentioned who had tendered resignation on unproven allegations. One saffron clad man with a Vermillion mark on forehead holding a national flag alleged that “the protest was not against government rather against India” and when asked how did he know, he said he saw videos over social media.Security was tightened around the protest site with entry and exit regulated through metal detectors. Heavy forces were deployed around sensitive offices of prime minister and home minister with the closure of roads near these points. More than 1,000 police personnel have been allocated for deployment throughout New Delhi and other strategic locations as a precaution, officials said.Six people were detained by the Delhi Police to prevent a possible confrontation between two groups during the protest, officials said. The detention was made as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order and to ensure the demonstration concluded peacefully, they said.Published on June 6, 2026
