India's youth-led 'cockroach' protests expose cracks in Modi's government

By — Zeba Warsi Zeba Warsi Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/indias-youth-led-cockroach-protests-expose-cracks-in-modis-government Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio What started as outrage over leaked medical entrance exams turned into one of India's largest youth-led protest movements challenging India's prime minister. They call themselves the cockroaches after a top official compared jobless youth to the pests. Producer Zeba Warsi reports on how India's Gen Z took on one of the world's most powerful leaders. Uzair Usmani and Naila Khan contributed to the field producing this piece. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: They call themselves the Cockroaches after a top official compared India's jobless youth to the pests. Now, days after their protests toppled the education minister, students say police are coming for them. What started as outrage over leaked medical entrance exams has turned into one of India's largest youth-led protest movements, challenging India's prime minister. "News Hour" producer Zeba Warsi reports now on how India's Gen Z took on one of the world's most powerful leaders and what it means for the country's future. Zeba Warsi: The world's largest youth population just made their powerful government buckle under pressure. Beneath the celebration was something remarkable, India's youth discovering the power of their own voice. Woman (through interpreter): The government has messed with the wrong Gen Z people. You can break bodies, but not baddies. Abhijeet Dipke, Cockroach Party Founder: It's a victory for the Constitution of India. It's a victory for the people of India. And it's a defeat for the dictator. Zeba Warsi: That's Abhijeet Dipke, a graduate student at Boston University who sparked a movement from an insult after India's chief justice compared unemployed young people to cockroaches. Dipke launched the satirical Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, a play on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP. Today, its Instagram page has grown to over 25 million followers, more than twice that of the BJP. It all began with a leak of a national medical school entrance exam taken by two million aspiring medical students across the country. It's an exam they can prepare to take for years with private tutors and offers a way out of poverty for those who do well. The decision to invalidate the test results was unbearable for many students, like Pradeep Kumar (ph). His mother, Sushila Devi, says her son was so distressed that he took his own life. Sushila Devi, Mother of Student Who Died By Suicide (through interpreter): He felt that if the exam was held again, then he may or may not be able to do so well. There was already so much death burden on his father, he just decided to die. Zeba Warsi: More than 20 other young stud