Indian youth protests over a leaked exam paper scandal have spread from New Delhi to Mumbai, Patna, Kerala and Goa, with demonstrators demanding the education minister’s resignation.
New Delhi, India – Web Desk: Youth protests against the Modi government over a leaked examination paper scandal have expanded beyond the Indian capital New Delhi to several other major cities, according to Indian media reports on Friday.
Indian outlets reported that the demonstrations have now reached Mumbai, Patna, Kerala and Goa, with hundreds of young protesters taking to the streets in each location. The protesters are demanding the resignation of India’s education minister over the handling of the exam leak controversy.
A youth organisation known as the Cockroach Janata Party, which has emerged as one of the driving forces behind the protests, said that the Indian prime minister’s response to the exam leak issue had been inadequate. The group said that officials at every level, including the education minister, had failed the country’s youth and were solely focused on personal financial gain.
The organisation further alleged that supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party were orchestrating incidents of stone-throwing during the demonstrations in an attempt to discredit the movement and portray it as violent.
Indian actress Shabana Azmi was also seen joining the youth protests, where she read out lines from a poem by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz to encourage the demonstrators.
The unrest follows earlier developments in the controversy, including an announcement from the Indian prime minister establishing fast-track courts to address the exam leak issue, weeks after the scandal first emerged. He had warned that those found responsible for harming the future of the country’s youth would not be spared. Separately, India’s Chief Justice had earlier declined to grant an urgent hearing in a case involving allegations of police action against protesters linked to the Cockroach Janata Party, a group that reportedly formed in response to controversial remarks made by the Chief Justice regarding young people earlier this year.
