Leaders of India’s youth-led ‘cockroach’ movement said yesterday that the government has asked for time until this afternoon to respond on their demand for the education minister’s resignation, following talks between the two sides.
The talks came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike, raising hopes that the two sides could reach a breakthrough after tens of thousands of angry youth converged in the capital Delhi to demand the minister’s resignation over exam paper leaks.
The anti-government protests represent the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.
Opposition parties have echoed the movement’s demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.
The talks were the first substantive meeting between the two sides after a preliminary round held on Monday.
The government was represented by senior federal ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh, while the protesters were represented by Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, spokespersons of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
“The government has asked for time until tomorrow afternoon to respond on this point (the minister’s resignation),” Ranka told reporters after the talks.
Nadda said the talks took place in a cordial atmosphere.
“They had three main demands. We have told them we will meet you tomorrow afternoon and discuss the demands,” he said.
Besides the resignation of minister Pradhan, the protesters want police cases filed against protesters dropped, and compensation paid to families of more than a dozen students who local media reported took their own lives after the exam paper leak in May.
Later last night, Modi released a new video message thanking students for their response to his remarks on examination paper leaks.
The video came a day after Modi announced fast-track courts and a tougher new law to punish those behind exam paper leaks.
He said the government aimed to pass the bill in Parliament as early as the second week of the ongoing session.
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