In India, the Generation Z group Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which had been protesting to denounce the leak of questions from the medical school entrance exam, ended its demonstrations of more than a month, saying the government accepted all of its demands.
According to Reuters, AP, and AFP on the 26th (local time), after talks the previous day, government representatives including Jagat Prakash Nadda, India's Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and CJP leaders held a joint news conference and said the government had accepted all of CJP's demands.
CJP Spokesperson Ashutosh Lanka said, "The bottom line is that we have won. Your struggle, effort, and patience have borne fruit," and added, "Since all the demands raised by our team have been accepted, we ask the demonstrators to withdraw and return home peacefully."
CJP had been demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is responsible for the leak scandal, reform of the medical school entrance examination system, compensation for the families of test-takers who took their own lives in connection with the leak, and an end to legal action against protesters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted Minister Pradhan's resignation letter and appointed Pralhad Joshi, who concurrently serves as Minister of New and Renewable Energy and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, as the new Minister of Education.
Thousands of CJP protesters who had gathered for rallies at Jantar Mantar, the "government-designated protest site" in central New Delhi, shouted slogans and handed out sweets to those around them to celebrate their victory upon hearing of Minister Pradhan's resignation.
CJP founder Abhijit Deepke, 30, declared amid cheers from the crowd, "We did it."
Sonam Wangchuk, 59, a well-known environmental and education activist who staged a hunger strike for 26 days in support of CJP, also wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) that Minister Pradhan's resignation was "a victory of peace, patience, and perseverance."
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress (INC) said Minister Pradhan's resignation was "a significant step toward education system reform," and urged Prime Minister Modi to apologize to students and young people and to respect them.
Earlier, after issues over question leaks and poor administration surfaced in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) taken by about 2.2 million people in May, it was reported that 10 test-takers took their own lives under the pressure for a retest.
In response, CJP, founded the same month as a satire on remarks by India's Chief Justice Suryah Kant, who compared unemployed youths to cockroaches, began protests last month demanding the resignation of the Minister of Education.
CJP's protests, combined with discontent over severe youth unemployment and other livelihood hardships as well as the Modi administration's authoritarian governing style, grew into the largest demonstrations since the 2020–2021 farmers' protests.
On the 20th, thousands tried to march to the New Delhi assembly, and the protests escalated after police used tear gas and batons to disperse them, while demonstrations spread to eastern West Bengal and the southern states of Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.