With plates and spoons, supporters of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party will gather at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday, as the group intensifies its campaign against alleged examination irregularities.
Ahead of the protest, CJP founder Abhijit Debke on Friday urged his supporters to bring a ‘thali’ (plate) and a ‘chamash’ (spoon), recalling memories of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for pot banging during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“All the cockroaches who will join tomorrow’s protest at Jantar Mantar should carry thali and shamash with them. And you know the rest of the story,” Deepki said in a video posted by the organization on social media.
The youth-led movement said it has received Delhi Police permission for the June 20 protest, scheduled to be held at 1 pm, where it plans to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak controversy and other exam-related issues.
The June 20 demonstration will be the outfit’s second protest in Delhi after the June 6 demonstration at Jantar Mantar, and comes on the heels of a series of protests organized by the Cockroach Janta Party in several cities including Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Jaipur.
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What is the symbolism of “thali” and “chammakh”?
The call for plates and spoons appears to refer to the Prime Minister’s March 2020 call for citizens to clap and bang pots from their balconies to express gratitude to frontline workers during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Remember, at 5pm this evening for 5 minutes… Be on your balconies, balconies or windows to express gratitude to all those who are working 24/7 so that our nation becomes Covid-19 free. #JantaCurfew,” the Prime Minister’s post on X read at the time.
Debaki’s appeal to PM Modi
Separately, Debaki appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce it $Rs 1 crore compensation to families of students who allegedly died by suicide amid exam-related controversies.
He also reiterated the organization’s demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s dismissal, saying accountability was necessary.
Read also | CJP to hold second protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 20: ‘Confident police will give permission’
Debaki at Protests 2.0 in Jantar Mantar
The appeal comes ahead of the CJP’s second protest at Jantar Mantar, where the group plans to intensify its campaign against alleged examination irregularities and what it describes as the government’s failure to ensure accountability in the education system.
“I write to you today with a heavy heart, to draw your urgent attention to the escalating crisis that threatens our nation’s very future — the lives and mental well-being of our young students,” DeBakey said in the letter.
He claimed that 11 students had died by suicide in recent weeks, including five deaths in the past 48 hours, and said uncertainty over possible retakes of exams had exacerbated anxiety among students.
He urged the Center to provide immediate financial assistance to the affected families, arguing that many of them had taken out large educational loans to support their children’s academic aspirations.
“The Janta Sarsour Party has been demanding the resignation of the Education Minister for the past month and has been protesting across the country for our demands. All we students want is to see some accountability for the loss of life,” he said.
He added that holding leadership accountable is “a vital step toward restoring the trust of millions of students and parents in our educational framework,” and failing to do so “inadvertently sends a message that the administration accepts the status quo.”
“Therefore, we respectfully ask you to dismiss the Minister of Education. He is serving at your will, and the responsibility lies with the Prime Minister,” he said.
Debaki said that dismissing the education minister would demonstrate the government’s commitment to accountability rather than weakness, and warned that inaction could deepen feelings of despair among students and parents.
