Hundreds of students and young professionals gathered at Jantar Mantar on Saturday under heavy security as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led online movement, staged a protest demanding accountability over alleged irregularities in examinations and recruitment tests and seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Leading the demonstration, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the government of targeting the movement's social media presence instead of addressing its concerns.
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"My friends, this is a long struggle. It has been a month since we started demanding Pradhan's resignation on social media, but these individuals are so shameless that instead of taking action, they have been focused on other distractions, like hacking our accounts and getting our posts deleted. You may be able to delete our posts, but you cannot erase us from this space," Dipke told the gathering, drawing loud cheers from supporters.
The protest drew a large turnout of young people, including school and college students, job aspirants and young professionals. Many participants wore cockroach masks — a symbol adopted by the movement — while others carried flowers and the national flag. Several school students attended the demonstration along with their parents.
Dipke, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday morning, described the atmosphere leading up to the protest as tense.
Recalling his flight to the capital, he said, "I was fully prepared to sacrifice my freedom for this cause," adding that moments before landing at Delhi airport he felt as though he was living through his final moments of freedom.
The activist also took aim at what he described as a culture of fear, claiming many people had compromised under pressure.
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"Lekin is desh ka chatra, yuva nahi bika hai (The youth and students of this country have not sold themselves)," he said, prompting another round of applause from the crowd.
Dipke informed supporters that activist Sonam Wangchuk would soon join the gathering and thanked him for extending solidarity to the movement. Wangchuk has publicly backed the protest and said he would undertake a six-week fast if Dipke were arrested.
Ahead of the event, Dipke had repeatedly urged supporters to keep the demonstration peaceful and disciplined. In a post on X, he encouraged participants to carry a book and the national flag and appealed to them to offer flowers to police personnel as a "gesture of compassion and gratitude", stressing that the movement should be guided by "love and peace".
The protest was organised around demands for accountability in alleged irregularities linked to examinations and recruitment tests, including NEET, CBSE, CUET and SSC examinations.
Anticipating a large turnout, Delhi Police heightened security arrangements across the national capital. Officials said additional personnel were deployed at Indira Gandhi International Airport, border entry points and other sensitive locations.
More than 1,000 police personnel were assigned across New Delhi and other strategic areas as a precautionary measure.
In the days leading up to the demonstration, the CJP circulated guidelines urging participants to avoid confrontation and maintain non-violent conduct. Dipke reiterated those instructions on Saturday, calling for respectful engagement with law enforcement personnel throughout the protest.
