When pent-up youth anger propelled India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to online fame in May, its founder said his supporters were disillusioned with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and the opposition for failing to address their concerns.
Yet CJP leaders turned to opposition lawmakers and appealed directly for their support on Monday after police used batons and tear gas to disperse protesters marching on parliament to demonstrate against damaging exam leaks and corruption.
Opposition lawmakers were quick to oblige on Tuesday, after many young demonstrators were injured.
India’s next parliamentary elections are due by April 2029, but key states like the most populous, Uttar Pradesh, run by Modi’s party, and Punjab, vote next year.
“I think the opposition has got a clear sense that there is a very strong sentiment against the government on this issue at least,” said Sanjay Kumar, professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, referring to the education minister.
“If the movement remains undirected … the chances of a further crackdown on the movement are much higher. So the opposition parties see it as an opportunity and they will try to develop a soft corner among the protesters.”
Some Indian broadcasters sympathetic to the government have already accused the opposition of trying to hijack the movement for limelight.
Congress leaders and lawmakers Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra protested outside Modi’s residence late on Tuesday, calling for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the leaks of exam papers for medical courses that affected millions of students and led to a retest.
“An attack on students is an attack on every Indian family,” Rahul said before he was detained by police. “PM Modi believes he can get away without answers, without consequences. He cannot. Not this time. The voice of India’s students will not be ignored.”
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