India's Youth Protests Grow as Modi Vows Reform
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- Dharmendra Pradhan made his first public comments since the youth-led "cockroach" movement launched last month, pledging the Modi government was "100% committed" to addressing NEET exam concerns and debating youth grievances in Parliament.
- NEET exam paper leaks affected roughly 2 million students and were linked to several student suicides, fueling the protests that swelled this week into the biggest youth challenge to PM Modi since 2014.
- Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police in New Delhi on Monday, with officers using tear gas and batons to push them back from the streets.
- Rahul Gandhi led an opposition Congress sit-in outside Modi's residence on Tuesday and was detained alongside his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders before being released late that night.
- PM Modi broke his silence on Tuesday, vowing to punish those behind the exam leaks and calling on lawmakers to help build a foolproof examination system.
- Health Minister J.P. Nadda held the government's first talks with Cockroach Janta Party leaders on Monday, assuring them their demands would be considered.
- Activist Sonam Wangchuk began a hunger strike on June 28 in support of the movement and was forcibly hospitalized by police over the weekend, later transferred to a private hospital after a court order responding to his wife's petition alleging illegal detention.
Why it matters: The protests hit Modi's core voter base — young Indians — and mark the largest youth-led challenge to his government since 2014, with 2 million NEET students affected and student suicides tied to the leak scandal driving the anger. Opposition Congress, handed a rare opening, is amplifying the pressure with a high-profile sit-in and detention of its top leaders, forcing the government's first substantive response in a parliament where Modi lost his outright majority in 2024.
