India’s ‘cockroach’ protesters explain how they toppled one of Modi’s ministers

Students participating in protests organised by the "Cockroach Party," along with independent journalists on the ground, documented the events that led to the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On the left, protesters can be seen tearing down police barricades during a violent day of demonstrations on Monday, July 20. The image on the right documents the ensuing police crackdown, showing a young man on the ground surrounded by officers and beaten repeatedly with batons. © Srishti Jaswal / RishiKesh Kumar / X

After weeks of student protests, the resignation of India’s education minister on July 25 was hailed as a victory for the so-called cockroaches, a youth movement that has made this originally derogatory term their own. But some are concerned about facing repression down the line, aided by facial recognition.

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.