Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday the creation of fast-track courts to punish those responsible for leaking exam questions, as youth protests have paralyzed New Delhi for several days.
This is his first public statement on the crisis. On the X network, Narendra Modi wrote: “Nothing is more important than the well-being and future of our youth. We have decided to create special courts to ensure swift and severe punishment for those involved in leaks of exam questions. Those who attempt to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.”
The protests erupted following reports of irregularities in the national medical school entrance exams. For three days, thousands of people have been occupying Parliament Street, the thoroughfare connecting Parliament to Connaught Place, the capital's shopping district. On Monday, protesters marching toward Parliament were met with tear gas and police batons. Smaller demonstrations followed on Wednesday in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Patna.
The movement is organized under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical group that emerged online in May, demanding structural reform of the examination system and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Its founding chairman, Abhijeet Dipke, accused outside agitators of instigating the recent violence to discredit the movement. “People are being sent from outside to deliberately disrupt the protest,” he told the ANI news agency from the Jantar Mantar website. He later posted on X that Modi seemed “willing to shut down all of Delhi, but not to fire Dharmendra Pradhan.”
CJP spokesman Ashutosh Ranka dismissed Modi's announcement as an inadequate response. "Announcing special courts is not a real solution. It's simply a diversion," he told Jantar Mantar. "The leaks of cases are not happening because India lacked such courts. They are happening because Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has proven himself utterly incompetent."
The CJP's demands go further: in addition to the minister's resignation, the movement demands the dropping of charges against peaceful protesters and financial aid of ten million rupees (approximately $120,000) for each of the families of at least twelve students who have died by suicide since the recent exam cancellations.
Authorities have also closed sixteen metro stations around the protest site. According to witnesses on the ground, Monday's police crackdown only strengthened the protesters' resolve to maintain their mobilization. The CJP's rapid rise reflects growing discontent among Indian youth over high unemployment and repeated scandals surrounding national examinations, offering the opposition an opportunity to challenge Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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