India's Education Minister Resigns as Youth Protests Grow 25.07.2026 Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned — under pressure from thousands of students who took to the streets. The formal trigger is airtight: a leak and sale of entrance exam tickets for medical universities, forcing millions to retake the tests. The movement is led by a youth campaign with a telling name: Cockroach Janta Party — yes, "cockroach." It emerged in May after remarks by India's Supreme Court chief that many took as comparing unemployed youth to cockroaches. A sharp hit on a raw nerve: nearly 40% of graduates under 25 in India are jobless, as is every fifth person aged 20-29. With a population of over 360 million people aged 15-29, this is no longer a meme — it's a political force. Movement founder Abhijeet Deepke called the minister's resignation a victory for democracy, but he hasn't closed the list of demands: compensation of one crore rupees for families of students who died by suicide after learning the exam results were annulled, and punishment for police officers who dispersed protesters this week with batons and tear gas. The ruling BJP, of course, called the resignation "the highest standard of integrity and selfless service." Modi, meanwhile, has yet to publicly accept the resignation, and just a week earlier had chosen to ignore the protests altogether — until Thursday, when he stated that two and a half months after the leak, "those responsible have been arrested and are in jail." He thoughtfully added a vague warning on X: no mercy for those trying to harm the future of the youth. Exactly who is harming the future of millions of unemployed graduates remains a rhetorical question. Modi, incidentally, typically ignores protest movements. So the minister's resignation is a rare defeat for his government, which already lost its previous parliamentary majority after the 2024 elections. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/25/india/india-education-minister-resignation-intl