26 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGeeta PandeyJantar Mantar, Delhi
Getty ImagesThousands of students, parents, activists and political leaders are set to march to the Indian parliament following a call from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) for reforms in the education system.
The protest venue in Delhi is thronging with protesters and several hundred police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed.
Chaos erupted on Saturday when activist and educator Sonam Wangchuk, who was on day 21 of his hunger-strike in CJP’s support, was forcibly taken to hospital. He continues fasting there.
The Delhi Police have said that protesters don’t have permission for the march but a CJP spokesperson told the BBC that they will go ahead anyway.
Geeta PandeyFounded by Abhijeet Dipke, the CJP emerged in May as an online satirical movement to protest against paper leaks and irregularities in exams and has gained a huge following. They have been demanding that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan take responsibility and resign.
Pradhan has dismissed the CJP and its supporters as “the B-team of disruptive elements”. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not engaged with the protesters yet.
On Monday morning, the atmosphere at the protest site – Jantar Mantar, a 300-year-old observatory in Delhi – was lively and spirited. The pouring rain did not dampen the spirit of hundreds of protesters, many of whom were shouting slogans demanding Pradhan’s resignation.
Many protesters were waving the national flag while others held plastic roses as a peace offering.
Hundreds of policemen had been deployed and all roads leading to the venue have been sealed to traffic. Security has been stepped up across the city with barricades on a number of main streets.
Policemen were seen checking vehicles on roads leading to the area and asking questions to drivers and passengers.
Dipke, who announced he would sit on a hunger strike after Wangchuk was forcibly taken to hospital, was on the stage at Jantar Mantar, holding the Indian flag in one hand and the constitution in the other. He called the large crowd “CJP’s first win”.
He has demanded for Wangchuk to be released from hospital so that he can join the march. Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo is expected to participate in the march.
Wangchuk has said he would end his fast if the government took accountability “for the recent failures in the education system”; if he and the CJP leadership reached parliament and MPs assured them they would take up the issue; or if lawmakers visited him in hospital and assured him this would happen.
Protests have been organised in other cities as well. A massive protest was held in Mumbai city on Sunday while another one has been planned on Monday. Protests were also held in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Wangchuk’s fast in the scorching Delhi summer had drawn a lot of attention even before he was forcibly removed. He had been consuming just salt and water and had lost more than 9kg (1.4 stone). Despite the discomfort he had vowed to take part in the march to parliament.
Geeta PandeyBut on Saturday, chaos erupted just before 07:30 local time (02:00 GMT) when dozens of policemen covered him with curtains of bedsheets before removing him from the stage.
The CJP’s protests have centred around cancellation of several important exams following allegations of paper leaks.
In early May, a crucial medical entrance exam was cancelled after a paper leak, affecting nearly 2.28 million candidates who wrote the test. A retest was held on 21 June – but more than 20 students died by suicide, according to their families.
Following Saturday’s action, the CJP has also demanded Modi’s resignation. “Until now, we were demanding Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, but after this despicable act, we will now demand the resignation of Narendra Modi,” Dipke said on Saturday.
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