CJP warns of nationwide agitation if Education Minister Pradhan not removed in seven days

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which organized a protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, June 6, 2026, under the leadership of its founder Abhijeet Dipke, demanding the removal of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, warned that if Pradhan is not removed or does not resign voluntarily, the agitation will spread across the country.

Addressing a press conference, CJP spokespersons Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das said the protest attracted participants from various states and marked the beginning of a broader youth movement focusing on education and governance issues.

CJP, which was born as an online campaign in May and has amassed more than 22 million followers on Instagram, had encouraged young people to join the protest in the national capital over alleged irregularities in exams and recruitment tests in an apparent show of strength.

“We are giving seven days to the government. Either Dharmendra Pradhan should resign respectfully or Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack him. If his resignation does not come within seven days, this movement will spread across the country,” Mr. Ranka said.

He said organizers had received messages from supporters in different states saying they were ready to hold peaceful demonstrations, and claimed the group would wait a week before announcing its next plan of action.

Describing the participation on Saturday, June 6, 2026 as an important moment, Ranka said that the protest showed that young people were willing to take action around issues that affect them.

“June 6, 2026, will be written in history because today the politics of this country has completely changed,” he said, adding that many young people who were often discouraged from taking to the streets had come together for a peaceful demonstration.

Organizers have repeatedly framed the protest as a youth-led campaign and sought to frame it as a response to concerns about the education system.

Mr. Ranka claimed that the demand for Pradhan’s resignation was the direct focus of the movement and said, “It is time to reset our education system and we started this reset today.”

In his opinion, it was necessary to dismiss the Minister of Education if meaningful reforms were to be achieved.

“We will not be able to improve the education system of this country until this minister of education comes,” he said.

Ranka stated that the resignation request remains a priority issue, and that the campaign will continue apart from this issue.

“This is just the beginning. Youth in this country have many problems.” He argued that concerns about education were not taken into consideration sufficiently.

When asked whether the movement should be seen as a protest, a movement, or a political platform, Ranka clarified how it might develop in the future, describing it as “a platform for young people”, “a collective for young people” and “a movement for young people”.

The organizers also rejected suggestions that the mobilization was linked to any established political formation and described themselves as “pro-youth, pro-education, pro-Constitution and pro-India”.

Mr. Ranka claimed that the turnout exceeded expectations and emphasized that the meeting was peaceful despite the crowd.

“Even though it was a very large crowd, it was a very, very peaceful protest. It was perhaps one of the most peaceful protests the country has seen in a while,” he said.

Thanking the participants who traveled from different parts of the country to attend the event, he added, “Gen Z and the youth of this country have Gandhi and Ambedkar in their blood.”

Saurav Das said people from many states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and those in the Northeast, participated in the protest.

He also touched on the online support for the campaign, claiming that hundreds of thousands of people had signed petitions calling for the Minister’s resignation.

Asked whether they would send any statement to Mr Pradhan or request a meeting, Mr Ranka said: “Why doesn’t he resign?” he said.

Mr Das said several other student groups had written to the Minister on the issue but had not received any response.

“Young people want to talk, but when the government doesn’t talk, they take off,” Mr. Das said.

He also thanked the Delhi Police for facilitating the demonstration and said maintaining peace was a priority for the organisers.

“We are very happy that peaceful protest is the priority of Delhi Police,” he said.

The call for the protest was made by Mr Dipke, who started the online satirical account of the Cockroach Janta Party (also ‘CJP’) over demands for accountability for recent developments in the education sector.

Earlier in the day, Mr Dipke had called for Mr Pradhan to resign by 5pm, with organizers later announcing a seven-day deadline for action by the minister or the government.

It was published – 06 June 2026 22:33 IST