Crowds of supporters of India's online "cockroach" movement grew at a New Delhi protest site, while their demands for accountability and reform following examination scandals echoed in rallies across the country.
The protests, led by the social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, have emerged as one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since his re-election in 2024.
The campaign also got a boost on Wednesday inside parliament from opposition lawmakers, including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party, who demanded the government apologise for a police crackdown on a major rally on Monday.
Gandhi demanded on Tuesday that Prime Minister Modi step down over the police crackdown against student protests calling for reforms in the education system.
Protesters demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan have refused to leave the Jantar Mantar site in the heart of the Indian capital, with crowds swelling to several thousand people.
Movement spreads
The movement has spread beyond the capital, with smaller demonstrations springing up across the country, including in major cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru.
In eastern Patna city, police used tear gas and water cannons at a rally demanding Pradhan's resignation, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
The protesters, most of them young students, got a major boost on Tuesday after opposition parties threw their weight behind the movement, staging a sit-in outside the prime minister's residence.
Gandhi, 56, who was briefly detained on Tuesday, appeared in parliament on Wednesday dressed in black, demanding accountability from the government.
He later told reporters students had his full support, "and we are going to ensure that you are protected and your future is protected."
Unemployment
The CJP movement, which has millions of followers on social media, emerged in May initially as a satirical response to Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likening young people to "cockroaches" and "parasites" during a court hearing.
The movement has broadened its agenda to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what it describes as the Hindu right leader Modi's increasingly authoritarian style of governance.
On Monday, police fired tear gas and baton-charged tens of thousands of demonstrators as they tried to march to parliament on the opening day of the monsoon session in the capital's largest street rally in five years.
Rights groups have accused police of using excessive force, questioning the "legality, necessity, and proportionality" of their actions.
The protests follow several exam irregularities, including the leak of India's medical entrance examination paper that forced more than two million candidates to retake the test.
Another dispute involving the online marking of examinations taken by nearly two million high school students has also fuelled public anger.
