New Delhi:
The protest seeking the resignation of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, led by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, over the NEET paper leak will not end unless the education minister steps down and takes responsibility, the satirical political group’s founder Abhijeet Dipke told NDTV’s Shiv Aroor today.
In a post on X this morning, Dipke said he had a fever and needed some rest, but would return by evening at the protest site, which he did. The CJP and its members have no plan to meet the government unless the leaders agree to come to Jantar Mantar or a “neutral venue” for talks, the public relations graduate from Boston University who recently returned to India after launching the CJP content online, told NDTV.
“Well, they did invite us for talks, I think yesterday or the day before yesterday. But what they did last time, they invited us to have talks and they made Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka sit for five hours. And in those five hours, they spoke only for 10 minutes,” Dipke said, adding they don’t want a repeat of that experience.
Das and Ranka are spokesperson of the CJP.
“We don’t want to do that anymore because they were just wasting our time. So if the government wants to have a talk, it won’t be happening at any of the minister’s houses. It will either happen at Jantar Mantar or at any neutral location,” he said.
To a question about an old photograph in which a young Pradhan was seen speaking against paper leaks in Odisha, Dipke said, “I think then he should join us at Jantar Mantar. We would welcome him. We will also prepare his resignation letter. All he will need to do is sign it.”
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of taking the NEET paper leak case through fast-track courts, Dipke said, “That was a really vague tweet without any concrete action against the real culprit, who is Dharmendra Pradhan. Our demand is very simple and clear: the education minister must resign. And no more blood should be shed at Jantar Mantar to protect Dharmendra Pradhan who is already responsible for the death of more than 20 students.”
Dipke said the protest has spread far and wide and is not confined only to central Delhi. He asked the government to “listen to the people”.
“There are protests going on in Mumbai, Nashik, Mizoram, Jaipur, Madhya Pradesh, Bangalore, I mean across all India. So if so many people in lakhs are demanding a resignation of the minister, I don’t understand why is it such a big problem for Narendra Modi to sack one education minister? One education minister cannot be more important than lakhs of students,” he told NDTV, surrounded by supporters, at Jantar Mantar.
#IndiaMatters with @ShivAroor
“If the government wants to have a talk, it won’t be happening in any of the minister’s house. It will either happen at Jantar Mantar or at any neutral location”: CJP founder @abhijeet_dipke pic.twitter.com/tUKDkpzCXm
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 23, 2026
The protest is about fixing accountability, he said, adding whoever comes after Pradhan would then know that if he or she “messes up, if paper leaks happen or if any single student commits suicide, the chair won’t be safe.”
Thousands continued to pour into Jantar Mantar as the protest showed no sign of winding down. Most of the protesters are young people. They raised many questions, from the NEET case to wider issues like unemployment and alleged irregularities in the CBSE’s on-screen marking process, besides seeking wider reforms in the conduct of public examinations.
The protest began on June 6. It gained wider attention after Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk joined with an indefinite hunger strike on June 28.
