Cockroaches Protest Pushes BJP to Replace Education Minister Amid India’s Education Crisis

9:05 AM ETDeveloping

Health Desk

In Short: In a surprising turn of events, the Cockroach Janta Party, a student-led movement, forced the Bharatiya Janata Party to replace its Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, following a 37-day sit-in at Jantar Mantar.

The protest, which began after Chief Justice Surya Kant's remark about 'youngsters like cockroaches' and was fueled by a leaked NEET-UG 2026 exam paper, galvanized India's Gen Z into uniting against corruption in the education system.

The movement's success in pushing the BJP to replace Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union Education Minister outside of its own schedule marks a significant achievement for the opposition party, something neither the Congress nor any other opposition party has managed to do so far.

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Immediately I switched parties (and set it free in the garden) and became pro-roach.
“We know how much we had to fight to arrive at this position,” he told the Express’ Srirupa Goswami, referring to the 37-day Jantar Mantar sit-in in June-July.
ALSO READ | ‘Will emperor show his degree?’ Abhijeet Dipke on foreign education row Ranka pointed out that during that time ‘they were busy calling us viruses… terrorists… busy meting out violence.
The CJP’s Jantar Mantar protest – arguably one of the biggest public movements since the 2020/21 farmers’ protest against the government’s ‘black laws’ – began peacefully but quickly devolved into violence; the trigger, Ranka and others from the group have argued, was when Delhi Police launched a crackdown – lathi charges, tear gas and, allegedly, pellet guns that caused injuries.
On July 25 the protest was called off after the government provided assurances, including one that said Pradhan would be replaced as the Union Education Minister and another that police cases against student-protesters – i.e., those without a criminal past – would be scrapped.
In a freewheeling interview with the Indian Express, CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka offered a few interesting insights, including how much the ‘cockroaches’ had to struggle.

Sources

The Indian Expresslink