the student revolt

for the longest time in my life i have always been a centrist. i never stood with the left or the right. i never supported any of the political parties in india specifically because of that. i also had the notion of thought that protests, revolutions and decisions in my country are handled by citizens that belong to a specific party, wing or side. this was proven wrong to me.

yesterday, on the 20th of july, 2026, a party called the cockroach janta party (cjp) led by abhijeet dipke marched towards the jantar mantar observatory in new delhi to protest against the education minister, dharmendra pradhan. what happened? the national testing agency (nta), which is overseen by the education minister, allowed paper leaks to compromise multiple exams that students spend years of their lives studying for. a member of parliament confirmed that "over the last 10 years, 152 examination papers have been leaked, an average of more than one paper leak every month. this has affected 7.5 crore students." (source)

to understand where the cjp initially got their satirical name, we must rewind back to the 15th of may where during a supreme court session, the chief justice, surya kant described unemployed, young students as cockroaches. this comment led to dipke posting on x on saturday questioning what if the "cockroaches" came together.

so, how did this protest start in the first place? this somehow leads back to a movie. a movie where a legend was immortalized for me. 3 idiots was a life-changing experience for me. here is where i found out about sonam wangchuk, the very person who the character of phunsukh wangdu is based on. sonam sir is a well known educator and is an activist for the students of the republic of india. sonam sir started to protest in support of the cjp for the students. this all ended with a peaceful march down to jantar mantar for the cause be intervened by delhi police beating students and launching tear gas into the crowd.

i am a centrist and do not identify with any of the political parties in india, but this is not a political protest, this is a protest against an issue. an issue that has affected 75 million students. an issue that has affected students aiming to crack the hardest examinations in the world including the joint entrance examination (jee), national eligibility cum entrance test (neet) and the union public service commission (upsc) entrance exam. i myself gave the jee, but i never took it seriously. for me it was just to see if i could crack it. for students in india, it is their lives, their futures, their livelihoods that are affected. i may be a centrist but this is something i definitely agree with and would fight for.

i keep glancing at the news and staring at instagram posts journaling the protest. sometimes, i start to feel guilty that i am abroad, safe inside my house and not raising my voice against the negligent government. i decided that at least i can use my social presence. i am writing this blog post not as general information, but as a call to action. do what you can folks. even if you are abroad and not able to be there physically, post about it, speak up about it. use your voice, your instagram accounts, your websites, your whatsapp group chats. spread awareness around. don't feel guilt, feel the fire of revolution. i'm going to keep putting the truth of jantar mantar on my story, what's really happening, who it's happening to, and keep telling my friends, because silence helps no one. will you?

"बोले मुझे जब आती इस देश के लोगो की बात तोह याद दिलाता रहियो इनको उस भूरी मिटटी की औकात"

— अभिजय encore नेगी

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