Cockroach Janta Party Launches Nationwide Youth Protest Campaign

India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party launched a nationwide protest campaign on Thursday with hundreds of students and young supporters gathering in the western city of Pune in the youth movement’s latest show of strength. 

The rally at Savitribai Phule Pune University followed the group’s first major street protest in New Delhi last week . It demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities and repeated paper



leaks.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, addressed supporters and said Thursday marked the start of a broader national campaign.

He announced plans for protests in other cities and said supporters would return to New Delhi later this month if the education minister did not step down. “The government cannot ignore the youth,” Dipke, who recently returned from the United States to lead the campaign, told reporters.