Protesters gathered in huge numbers at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Sunday (June 21) for a second day of demonstration, seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who’s at the centre of the NEET-UG paper leak controversy. 

The Cockroach Janta Party, it’s founder Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday night urged people to join their protest and stand with the students. The protesters staged an overnight protest at Jantar Mantar, despite the Delhi Police asking them to vacate the site. 

Protesters gathered on Sunday with ‘thalis’ (steel plates) in their hands, chanting ‘Go Pradhan Go’. 

Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) defended climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s participation in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in Delhi. They asserted that he attended in his personal capacity and that his engagement with national issues would not undermine Ladakh’s movement.

Alleging that repeated rounds of talks with the Centre yielded little tangible progress, the leaders said they were considering reaching out to political parties and other stakeholders across the country for support. 

Mr. Wangchuk joined the June 6 protest in Delhi, organised by CJP supporters, to back their demands, which included the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in examinations and recruitment tests.

-PTI

Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, along with supporters, continued the sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar overnight, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak controversy, and urged people to join the demonstration on Sunday (June 21).

The protest entered its second day as Mr. Dipke appealed to people to reach Jantar Mantar, while asking NEET re-exam aspirants to join the agitation after completing their test.

“We are holding the fort but without your support this movement won’t be successful,” Mr. Dipke said as he urged people to join the protest on Sunday.

The demonstration has continued even after Delhi Police said the permission granted for the gathering ended at 5 p.m. on Saturday and asked the protesters to vacate the site.

Mr. Dipke asked police to assign a different site for the protest, but until then, they would continue their sit-in at Jantar Mantar.

-PTI

As the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) continues its protest on Sunday (June 21) seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, 22 lakh are set to appear for the NEET re-exam with Mr. Pradhan urging them to appear for it fearlessly and free of anxiety.

Mr. Pradhan said he has complete faith in the National Testing Agency (NTA), State Governments, district administrations, the education fraternity and the students.

Appealing to people not to do anything that could affect children’s mental health, Mr. Pradhan said the future of India’s new generation should not be toyed with.

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Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, continuing his protest for the second day on Sunday (June 21) at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, urged farmers across India to stand with the students in their cause. 

“When farmers were fighting for their rights, students stood shoulder to shoulder with them. Students need the same solidarity today. Please join us at Jantar Mantar,” Mr. Dipke said.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and the outfit’s supporters continued to protest for the second day on Sunday (June 21) at Jantar Mantar seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan despite the Delhi Police asking them to vacate the site.

The protesters asserted that they would not leave until Mr. Pradhan, who is at the heart of the NEET paper leak controversy, resigns.

Earlier, the CJP alleged that the Delhi Police had switched off lights at the protest site and restricted access to water, food and washrooms. The protesters later said water access was restored and lights were switched back on.

-PTI

In a late-night update, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said that the protest will continue overnight at Jantar Mantar.

He also went on to request citizens of Delhi to join the protest starting 9 a.m. tomorrow. “We really need your support,” Mr. Dipke said with folded hands. 

The protestors are continuing at the site in spite of the orders from the police to end the protest, reads a post on Cockroach Janta Party’s official twitter handle. 

Abhijeet Dipke thanks Delhi Police for switching on the lights at the site of the protest in Jantar Mantar.

- Nikhil M. Babu

As protesters continue to sit at the protest site in Delhi, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke says the Delhi Police was now not allowing food to enter Jantar Mantar.

He said that Mahatma Gandhi had also fasted and they will also fast.

“But when history is written, you’ll be compared to General Dyre... We again request Delhi Police to allow water and food to enter the area,” he says.

- Nikhil M. Babu

The Cockroach Janata Party protest is continuing under mobile lights.

Abhijeet Dipke demands Delhi Police to switch on the lights in the area.

“If any attack happens on me in this darkness, then the people who switched off the lights will be responsible,” Mr. Dipke said.

- Nikhil M. Babu

Abhijeet Dipke said that Delhi Police is stopping drinking water from entering the protest area. 

Mr. Dipke requested the police to allow water to be brought into the area and asked them if they would take responsibility if people faint due to the heat.

Mr. Dipke said that when Bhagat Singh was protesting, even the British gave them water.

“You have put the entire police at the barricades to stop drinking water. If you had put this much effort, then there wouldn’t have been any paper leaks and 12 people wouldn’t have to commit suicide,” he said.

- Nikhil M. Babu

Abhijeet Dipke has asked the Delhi Police to provide an alternate site for the protest and they would move if such a permission is given.

“But I want to ask, why is Dharmendra Pradhan still continuing as Minister? Is the law only for us? You [Delhi Police] are giving us a warning that your protest time has ended. You should also give a warning to Dharmendra Pradhan that your time in the ministry has ended”, said Mr. Dipke.

He has also made appeals from the stage for more people to come and join the protest.

- Nikhil M. Babu

Abhijeet Dipke has told the crowd who have gathered for the protest that “we will peacefully continue to sit here like this”.

Protestors are limited to a barricaded area in front of the stage.

-Nikhil M. Babu

Police have issued a warning stating that action will be taken against protestors if they do not end the protest.

- Nikhil M. Babu

Delhi Police preparing to arrest Abhijeet Dipke and other protestors from Jantar Mantar, says a post on CJP’s X account. 

Abhijeet Dipke and others continue to protest on the stage.

Meanwhile, protestors have been limited to one end of the Jantar Mantar, around the main stage, by the Delhi Police.

- The Hindu Bureau

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said the police was about to detain him and asked protestors to “keep the protest going in a peaceful way”.

Delhi Police has blocked entry to Jantar Mantar, where CJP continues to protest.

Delhi Police is making announcements that the protest permission was only till 5 p.m. and is asking protestors to vacate the protest site.

The announcements come shortly after CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke wrote to the Delhi Police commissioner seeking extension of the protest to tomorrow. Mr. Dipke said the protest would not end until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.

- The Hindu Bureau

Delhi Police has denied permission to Cockroach Janta Party to continue its protest at Jantar Mantar, even as party founder Abhijeet Dipke asserting that he will not move from the site until the Education Minister resigns.

Police have asked CJP supporters to vacate the site where a large number of students and others have been demonstrating over alleged examination irregularities, repeated paper leaks and demands for accountability from the government.

Earlier, Mr. Dipke had appealed to supporters to join the ongoing protest at Jantar Mantar at 6 p.m., expressing confidence that police will grant the permission for the extension.

-PTI

Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) appeals to students, parents, and concerned citizens to join the protest at 6 p.m. today in Jantar Mantar, seeking the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. 

“We won’t leave Jantar Mantar till Dharmendra Pradhan resigns,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke says at the movement’s second protest at Jantar Mantar.

Mr. Dipke appeals to the police to extend CJP’s permission at Jantar Mantar and asks to “open channel with the government for talks, with the condition of Dharmendra Pradhan resigning”.

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A formation in India calling itself the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ has accumulated a following that established political organisations often spend years building. Meme pages, Instagram reels, and semi-ironic political formations began aggregating at remarkable speed, prompting comparisons with Bangladesh and Nepal, where youth-led mobilisations appeared capable of unsettling entrenched political arrangements through digitally synchronised anger.

Increasingly, many are wondering whether this is the future of politics itself: reactive and emotionally charged, and organised less around long-term political structures than around symbolic enemies and collective outrage.

The crowds gathered for the CJP protest may see some respite from the punishing heat as IMD forecasts light rain throughout Delhi in the next two hours, according to IMD.

- Aroon Deep

Demonstrators bang plates and spoons as they continue to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan by sloganeering and holding up posters asking for the NTA to be disbanded, and more.

People were carrying plates and spoons at Jantar Mantar to show their concern and double down on their request for Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign. Demonstrators were shouting ‘Go Pradhan Go’ while banging their steel plates and spoons.

“The system will only change when our elected representatives’ children go to the same schools as everyone else’s,” activist Sonam Wangchuk says during the protest.

- Aroon Deep

The Cockroach Janta Party’s second protest at Jantar Mantar is underway. The protestors continue to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan.

Heavy security arrangements were put in place across the national capital on Saturday as the Cockroach Janta Party holds its second protest at Jantar Mantar, with police deploying extensive surveillance and crowd-control measures, officials said.

The protest began with heightened police presence, with supporters arriving from different parts of Delhi and neighbouring States.

Authorities have granted permission for the demonstration, officials said.

CCTV cameras were installed in and around the protest venue to monitor the gathering in real time, while around 270 body-worn cameras will be used by police personnel deployed at the site to ensure transparency and document proceedings, according to officials.