Supporters of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement were caned by police on Monday as they sought to march on parliament in the capital, New Delhi.
The months-long movement and the planned protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term in office, drawing millions of supporters on social media before broadening its appeal.
A police decision to forcibly move hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital on Saturday has galvanised the movement, with thousands of supporters arriving through the night at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi for the march on the opening day of parliament's monsoon session.
Delhi police held meetings with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, but no consensus had yet been reached, Sachin Sharma, Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police, said.
"The protest site has already run out of space, and this can lead to an untoward situation," he said, adding that there were around 10,000 protesters on Monday morning.
Scores of police and paramilitary security personnel were also deployed at the site, threatening a standoff close to parliament if the march goes ahead.
Television visuals showed police caning some protesters in a heavily barricaded area.
Delhi Police denied any use of force and claimed the "protest is being handled professionally."
Protesters chanted slogans as they arrived peacefully in a rainy central Delhi.
"Quit, quit," they chanted. "Dharmendra Pradhan quit", "Narendra Modi quit", they chanted in Hindi, referring to the education minister as well as the prime minister.
‘Is this a war zone?’
The protesters are seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches.
"Our country deserves a government that is bothered about what the young people have to say and is willing to correct its mistakes," said Sumit Kumar, 18.
"The future belongs to us and not these politicians."
The CJP movement began after national medical school entrance test papers were leaked in May, affecting more than 2 million students as it forced them to sit the test a second time.
The CJP has won millions of followers on social media since its launch, tapping into widespread anger over the country's education system and unemployment.
"Is this a war zone? Why is the police resorting to tear gas assault on peaceful protesters?" CJP said in a post on X.
"First your govt ignored this protest for a month and now when we are peacefully marching your govt is attacking us. Why?"
"All these leaders in power are illiterate, and I am here to protest because we do not want question papers to leak," said Adi Nathan, 21, a student from Meerut city, about 100 km (62 miles) from the capital. "This should come to an end."
Activist sets terms to end his fast
The CJP initially drew support largely online, amassing 22 million followers on Instagram within days, but has since drawn support from some opposition parties.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and his supporters began a sit-in last month seeking the resignation of Pradhan. Wangchuk joined them on June 28, launching an indefinite hunger strike at the site.
In a handwritten note from hospital posted on his X account, Wangchuk said he would end his fast if the government took responsibility for recent failures in the education system and for paper leaks, or if CJP protesters were allowed to reach parliament and lawmakers assured them they would take up the issues.
He said he would also end the hunger strike if lawmakers and leaders of various parties met him in the hospital and gave him the same assurances, since his health did not allow him to march on parliament.
The rise of the CJP reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues like high youth unemployment and frequent examination paper leaks, analysts say.
Unemployment in 2025 stood at 3.1 percent among those aged 15 and above, government data shows, but was 9.9 percent for those from 15 to 29. In urban areas it was 13.6 percent, and 8.3 percent in rural regions.
Who is Sonam Wangchuk, the Indian activist rallying Gen Z against Modi?
Sonam Wangchuk may be pushing 60, but he has become the face of a Gen Z movement in India.
Wangchuk, who is widely believed to have inspired the lead character in a Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots, is best known for campaigning on issues affecting his Himalayan region of Ladakh, bordering China. But his fast over exam paper leaks has won him a new following among young Indians, helping turn the issue into a broader Gen Z movement and piling pressure on Modi's government.
Even before police in Delhi moved him to hospital at the weekend after his hunger strike in solidarity with protesting supporters of the youth Cockroach Janta Party, some were comparing Wangchuk to India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.
He has been getting video and text messages of support from across India, including from Bollywood actors.
"It pains me when some say you're the Gandhi of the 21st century, the modern Gandhi, you're the real hero," he said this month from Delhi's Jantar Mantar protest site.
"I am no Gandhi, no hero. I'm just an ordinary citizen who has not shied away from his responsibilities. Don't look for a hero in others. Be the hero of your own life and fulfil your responsibilities."
Lovingly called "Sonam Sir" — Sonam means "merit" or "virtue" in some cultures — by many, including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Wangchuk is one of Ladakh's most prominent public figures, having built a career around education reform and water-conservation projects in the high-altitude desert.
In 2018, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely known as Asia's Nobel Prize, for those efforts.
Born in 1966 in the small, remote village of Ulaytokpo in Ladakh, he was a 19-year-old engineering student at the government-run National Institute of Technology, Srinagar in India-administered Kashmir when he ran a coaching programme in basic subjects such as English and mathematics that helped hundreds of students. He later set up the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh.
