India’s education minister resigns amid Cockroach youth movement protests

India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government.

In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure.

“Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and ‌across the country, so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of this situation … I have sent my resignation letter to the prime minister,” Pradhan wrote in a social media post.

“I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations ‌of the country’s youth.”

In the 12 years the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been in power, it was the first time one of Modi’s most loyal ministers has been forced into resigning due to public pressure.

The protests were organised by a newly formed youth political movement that called itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), and escalated into a nationwide uprising of youth dissent this week.

Pradhan’s announcement came just hours before CJP leaders were due to meet BJP ministers to reiterate their demands for his resignation, as crowds of protesters continued to swell in the capital, Delhi.

The news of Pradhan stepping down was met with ecstatic cheers by tens of thousands of CJP supporters gathered in Delhi, who have been demanding accountability from the government.

Since May, the CJP and its supporters have been calling for the resignation of Pradhan over an exam leak scandal that has devastated the lives of millions of students and led to more than a dozen students taking their own lives. Some of the protest leaders went on lengthy hunger strikes.

Cockroach Janta party supporters celebrate Pradhan’s resignation at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

The CJP demonstrations had taken a dramatic turn on Monday, when hundreds of thousands of young people and students took to the streets of Delhi in the largest youth-led protest seen in years. The police had hit back against the peaceful gatherings with brutality, including teargas and baton charges, leaving hundreds injured.

That had galvanised the demonstrations, and throughout this week thousands had flocked to the CJP’s Delhi sit-in to express their support and call for Pradhan’s resignation. Demonstrations also broke out across the country, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets in Kolkata and Mumbai.

For weeks, the Modi government had ignored the CJP protesters, but as support grew into an unprecedented mass movement this week, they agreed to have a dialogue.

Modi had agreed to fast-track justice for the exam leaks, but had made no mention of the CJP’s core demand, the resignation of Pradhan, who is seen as one of the prime minister’s most important and loyal ministers.