\u2018Cockroach\u2019 protests
\nCockroach movement protesters remain camped in Delhi over exam paper leaks affecting around two million students
\n NEW DELHI
\nThe Indian government has ordered telecom companies to disable mobile data services in central parts of the capital Delhi, in and around the site of youth protests seeking the resignation of the education minister, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.
\nThe companies have complied with the order, the sources said.
\nSpokespersons for the government and the telecom department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
\nTop Indian telecom firms, billionaire Mukesh Ambani\u2019s Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
\nThere was no mobile data connectivity in many parts of central Delhi on Thursday evening, Reuters journalists said. Vendors, shopkeepers and restaurants complained that they were unable to accept digital payments.
\nEarlier today, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government\u2019s response to the ongoing paper leak controversy, announcing that it will continue its protest until the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
\nIn a statement, CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said it was a positive development that the prime minister had finally taken notice after nearly one and a half months of protests. \u201cPerhaps his foreign visits are over, and he has returned to India, which is a good thing,\u201d Press Trust of India quoted Ranka as saying.
\nReiterating the party\u2019s stand, Ranka demanded Pradhan\u2019s resignation and said the protests would continue until accountability was established. \u201cWe will not leave this place until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns,\u201d he said.
\nHe questioned the effectiveness of imposing punishments after examination papers have already been leaked. \u201cWhat punishment are you imposing after the paper leak has already taken place? That is not going to solve the problem of paper leaks. The real question is why paper leaks are happening in the first place. That question must be answered,\u201d Ranka said.
\nEarlier in his social media post, Modi said, \u201cNothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth,\u201d promising to set up fast-track courts to punish those involved in question paper leaks.
\n\u2018Sack Dharmendra Pradhan\u2019
\nMeanwhile, leader of the main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, also responded by quoting Modi\u2019s post and saying that it was the prime minister who had harmed the future of our youth the most.
\n\u201cYou allowed and encouraged the total capture and destruction of our education system\u2013and protected every person responsible for it,\u201d Gandhi said and reiterated that Pradhan should be sacked, Modi should apologise to students, and those who assaulted them should be punished.
\nProtesters led by the \u201ccockroach\u201d movement have been camping in central Delhi since last month, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam paper leaks in May that affected some 2 million students.
\nProtests snowballed on Monday after police fired tear gas and baton-charged tens of thousands of demonstrators as they tried to march to parliament on the opening day of the monsoon session.
\nAs tensions escalated, protesters responded by hurling stones, marking the largest street rally in the capital in about five years.
\nAt least 178 people, including security personnel, were injured in the violence, according to the police.
\nThe CJP, which has millions of followers on social media, emerged in May initially as a satirical response to Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likening young people to \u201ccockroaches\u201d and \u201cparasites\u201d during a court hearing.
\nThe movement has since broadened its agenda to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what it describes as Modi\u00b4s increasingly authoritarian style of governance.
\nThe protests have emerged as one of the biggest challenges to Modi since his re-election for a third term in office in 2024.
\nA series of exam irregularities have undermined trust in India\u2019s testing system, including the leak of a medical entrance question paper that forced more than two million candidates to retake the test.
\nAnother dispute involving the online marking of examinations taken by nearly two million high school students has further fuelled public anger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Cockroach\u2019 protests Cockroach movement protesters remain camped in Delhi over exam paper leaks affecting around two million students NEW DELHI The Indian government has ordered telecom companies to disable mobile data services in central parts of the capital Delhi, in and around the site of youth protests seeking the resignation of the education minister, two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n