CELEBRATIONS AT PROTEST SITE
Youngsters at the Jantar Mantar site shouted „Jai Hind“, a patriotic slogan meaning „Victory to India“, as the national anthem played on loudspeakers and sweets were distributed among the crowd. At least 1,000 police officials stood nearby guarding the area, according to Reuters journalists at the site.
The leak of the high-profile medical college entrance test paper in May, which led to the cancellation of results and the government ordering a retest, affected 2 million young people.
Supporters of India’s youth-led „cockroach“ movement had been protesting since June, but anger boiled over since police on Monday injured dozens of students, launching baton charges and firing tear gas to deter crowds of protesters marching on parliament.
The protests also reflect anger over job scarcity, corruption and government accountability.
„Young generation is here. This is win for the constitution,” protester Tluanga Ralte said, walking with a copy of the Indian constitution at the protest site after the minister’s resignation. „We are not a lazy generation.“
Federal authorities even on Saturday restricted access to the internet and to 18 metro stations to try to limit the protest in the capital, the latest day of such restrictions.
Pradhan is only the second minister to resign following a scandal since Modi came to power in 2014. MJ Akbar resigned as junior foreign minister in October 2018 to fight allegations of sexual harassment made by more than a dozen women during India’s #MeToo movement.
Students, youth activists and opposition supporters had in recent days staged protests in the states of West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, holding placards demanding Pradhan’s resignation and boycotting classes in some places.