When our team spoke to Arjun on July 25, he was joyous (“Arjun” is a pseudonym. For security reasons, we have changed the names of all of the protesters). He had just attended the New Delhi protest convened by the Cockroach Janta Party (the Cockroach People’s Party or CJP). The so-called CJP is a satirical group and youth movement whose name is a play on the BJP, the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has been in power since 2014. Arjun said that the atmosphere was joyous in Jantar Mantar, a public space in the heart of the capital where the protests have been held, when Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned: “The resignation [Editor’s note: of the Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan] was around 2:30 pm. Then, people started cheering and celebrating. People were helping each other out – like someone is providing water for free, someone is giving food. Mostly, they were students but millennials [Editor’s note: people in their 30s or 40s] were also present there and some old people, too. They were cheering for us, saying that we’ve done a great job standing up against the government.”
Arjun shared several videos with the Observers team that he captured while attending student protests organised by the “Cockroach” movement. In one clip, recorded on July 25, crowds gathered at Jantar Mantar can be seen celebrating the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
