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Junaid Kathju

As India picks up the pieces in the aftermath of a youth protest that deposed an education minister, questions linger over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) failure to connect with younger generations.
Analysts say the scale of youth participation in the protest suggests a loss of faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the real test coming at the ballot box in key state elections next year.
Thousands of young people joined the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) march to parliament on Monday demanding examination reforms and the resignation of education chief Dharmendra Pradhan.
The impetus behind the protest was medical school entrance paper leaks, which forced a resit and affected 2 million students, driving at least 12 to suicide.
It was one of the largest displays of public dissent against Modi’s government over his 12 years in office, fuelled by existing discontent over job prospects and corruption.

Kartik Verma, 20, a student at Aligarh Muslim University, said he and his family had been staunch Modi supporters but “the arrogance of the BJP with no accountability shook my belief”.
“Despite my family’s restrictions, I still went ahead to join the protest. This was now or never for me,” Verma said, adding he would “never vote for the party again”.
Hoping to change his family’s views, Verma said he could not let them remain andhbhakts (blind devotees) of the BJP.
Asim Ali, a political analyst at the Centre for Policy Research, said it was the first time young people from the upper class and higher castes and even BJP-supporting families joined the protest.
“We haven’t seen anything like this before. Youth have become a key political demographic in India,” he said.


It has been almost 50 years since India saw such a massive student protest. In 1974, tens of thousands took part in the Jayaprakash Narayan movement, a student-led political demonstration in Bihar state decrying corruption and economic hardship.
But whether the shift in youth sentiment will translate into punishment of the BJP at the ballot box remains to be seen, according to Ali.
“Elections are fought with different strategies. Young voters may still vote based on religion, caste or regional identity,” he said, pointing to BJP’s victory in the 2024 Haryana assembly election despite a farmers’ protest three years earlier.
Dented aura
Monday’s protest began peacefully with young people holding placards, waving Indian flags and singing patriotic songs. But chaos ensued when security forces fired tear-gas shells and resorted to baton charges after protesters attempted to breach barricades around the parliament building.
Many protesters were injured in the clashes. While several received first aid at the scene, others were taken to hospital for further treatment.
After Pradhan quit on Saturday, protesters celebrated their victory, with the CJP urging supporters to disperse.
Health Minister J.P. Nadda and other officials then held a joint press conference with CJP members, with Nadda saying the government had accepted all demands of the protesters – which included exam reforms, dropping police cases against protesters and compensating families of students who died by suicide after the exam leaks.

Authorities also restored mobile internet services and resumed train services around the protest site. The concessions were a surprise as Modi is known for his hardline stance.
The CJP emerged in May after Chief Justice Surya Kant called unemployed youth and activists “cockroaches” and “parasites”. Reclaiming the slur in an act of defiance, young Indians launched the satirical CJP, a play on the ruling BJP, which gained over 22 million Instagram followers within a week.
The protest had dented the aura of Modi and the fear of the government, and could have consequences far beyond the youth demographic, said Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“Persistent paper leaks have killed their hope, and an unresponsive government has pushed them to the breaking point. Rising youth unemployment has added fuel to this fire,” Donthi said.
Unencumbered by the past, the youth wanted to hold the government accountable for its failures, he said.
“They are unimpressed by issues such as religious nationalism that older generations are beholden to. The deeply skewed and unfair education system in India holds the key to a better future for millions of children and their families.”

Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, said the movement revealed the “anger” among critical masses who felt the government had ignored their grievances, particularly over youth unemployment.
The movement should serve as a warning for the Modi administration, he said.
“There have been periodic protests here and there but they have not come to the fore. With this movement, it really has come to the surface in a big way, clearly a wake-up call for the government and its large support base.”
Meme fest
To express dissent, Gen Z protesters have used Instagram Reels with hip-hop tracks, memes, irreverent humour and even jokes on Modi, attracting millions of views and drawing more young people to the movement.
The videos not only injected humour into the movement but also helped counter mainstream media portrayals that sought to frame the protests as antinational and Pakistan-backed.
During the protests, mainstream TV reporters were heckled with chants of “Godi Media” (lapdog media), prevented from filming and physically assaulted.












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A post shared by India Tales | News | Memes | Culture (@thetalesindia)



Swati, 28, from Gwalior, who requested to be identified by her first name, said that her father, a BJP supporter with a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh background, was unaware of the Monday events because he mainly relied on the mainstream media.
“I have been arguing with my father since 2017 [about the BJP] but to no avail,” said Swati.
She joined the protest over what she described as the government’s refusal to take responsibility.
“People dying due to improper infrastructure, attacks on minorities, deaths due to manual scavenging, gig workers’ accidents, unemployment, there is a lack of accountability for several problems in the nation,” Swati said.
The medical exam paper leak and subsequent police action were the last straw for Gen Z, said Anurag Minus Verma, an Indian cultural critic.
“It was then the whole idea of tear gas was fought with laughing gas – a meme warfare that young protesters used pretty well,” said the author of The Great Indian Brain Rot.












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A post shared by 𝘼𝙉𝙆𝙄𝙏 (@alex.ankitt)



Verma said memes became a central part of the protest, which neither the police nor the BJP understood.
“There was a clear disconnect between Gen Z and the ruling party. [The BJP] failed to understand what Gen Z wanted and how they communicate.”
On Thursday midnight, Modi, departing from the usual practice of delivering a televised address, chose a selfie video seemingly aimed at young protesters to assure them that the government stood with them.
However, Verma argued that the BJP’s social media apparatus was behind the times, focusing on X and Facebook, rather than Instagram. BJP initiatives such as Bhajan Clubbing, a youth-driven cultural trend, and creator awards have also failed to gain traction.
“When Modi came to power in 2014, he used selfies to engage with youth. But that generation is already 12 years old, and the new generation has moved on to Instagram, where the BJP has no base,” the author said.


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Even the resignation of education chief Dharmendra Pradhan may not be enough to placate rising anger against the ruling BJP


Even the resignation of education chief Dharmendra Pradhan may not be enough to placate rising anger against the ruling BJP.


From marches to memes: why India’s youth turned against Modi

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Even the resignation of education chief Dharmendra Pradhan may not be enough to placate rising anger against the ruling BJP

Even the resignation of education chief Dharmendra Pradhan may not be enough to placate rising anger against the ruling BJP