Indian youth protesters declare nationwide rallies, defying Modi’s call for dialogue

India’s youth protesters called for nationwide demonstrations on Friday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government urged them to join talks, while shutting metro stations and mobile internet services and curtailing business in central Delhi.

The youth protesters, led by the self-named Cockroach Janta Party movement, are demanding the resignation of the education minister over leaks of medical school entrance test papers that affected some 2 million students in May and have been linked to several student suicides.

The protests have swelled into the biggest youth challenge to Modi since he came to power in 2014. Opposition parties have echoed the youth movement's demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.

It marks the biggest political crisis of Modi's third term, which began in 2024.

The government made a fresh appeal on Thursday to the protesters to join talks to resolve the crisis but they responded by calling for nationwide peaceful protests on Friday in solidarity with students who alleged police brutality during a march on parliament on Monday by tens of thousands of people.

Thousands of people had returned to the Jantar Mantar protest site by Thursday afternoon, carrying anti-government posters and chanting slogans amid heavy security deployment.

Protests also spread to other cities, including Ranchi, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram and Kolkata, local media reported.

Jitendra Singh, state minister for science and technology, on Thursday asked the protesters to sit down for talks in what he claimed was the fourth government offer for talks over the past 24 hours.

The fourth offer was a “humble appeal” on behalf of the government, he told journalists. The issues at contention can be resolved and a way forward can be found “only through dialogue,” he said in his overture to the protesters.

Restrictions imposed in central business district

Authorities in Delhi shut down 16 metro rail stations in and around the central parts of Delhi where the protesters have remained camped, inconveniencing thousands of commuters.

The government also ordered telecom firms to block mobile internet services in the area, sources told Reuters, a move that not only affected protesters but also stopped shops and restaurants from receiving digital payments by phone.

Separately, all offices and businesses in the Connaught Place area, the bustling central business district, were asked to shut early on Thursday by the New Delhi Traders Association, which cited an advisory from municipal authorities due to the security situation in the area.

The measures are seen as an attempt by authorities to curb the protests and prevent any fresh outbreak of violence.

More than 10,000 people had gathered on Wednesday night at the Jantar Mantar protest site. Some protesters attacked police with stones and plastic bottles, injuring a few officers, news agency ANI quoted Delhi Police as saying.

In Monday's clashes during the march on parliament, police used tear gas and canes to push back the protesters.

Protesters reject Modi's special courts proposal

Earlier on Thursday, Modi said that special courts would be set up to prosecute those behind exam paper leaks, his first public response to the crisis.

"Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth!" Modi posted on X.

But CJP rejected the proposal, saying what courts do after paper leaks is just one aspect of the problem.

"But Modi-ji, tell us why are paper leaks happening in this country in the first place?" CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said, using the Hindi honorific.

"Fast-track courts are set up in this country for every other issue, but whether those fast-track courts have actually solved those issues — you know the answer to that question, and so do we."

Top Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor, supported the protesters via social media posts, saying it was heartening to see students come together to fight for a cause.

The CJP protests began as an online satire and involved only a few hundred young people when they were first launched.

The movement's surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as job shortages, as well as frequent exam leaks.