The Cockroach Janta Party’s Instagram account was blocked on Wednesday, its founder Abhijeet Dipke claimed. He posted a screenshot on X which showed a message stating that the platform had “complied with a legal request to restrict this content”. Minutes later, Dipke said that the account had been restored.

It was not immediately clear whether the account had been withheld.

Earlier in the day, the proceedings in Parliament were adjourned shortly after the two Houses convened as Opposition MPs demanded a discussion on Monday’s police crackdown on protesters in Delhi.

Advertisement

The MPs from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, the Left parties and other Opposition parties also staged demonstrations inside and outside Parliament, seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

After security personnel lathi-charged demonstrators and fired tear gas shells during the Cockroach Janta Party’s march to Parliament on Monday, protesters returned to Jantar Mantar and have continued their sit-in there.

Here’s more on this and other top updates:

Developments on Wednesday

  • Both Houses of Parliament were repeatedly adjourned on Wednesday. This came amid protests by the Opposition demanding discussions on several matters, including the police lathi-charge on Monday. Several MPs wore black clothes as part of their protest.
  • Congress MP KC Venugopal said that the Opposition was “very clear” in its demand that the education minister should resign.
  • Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the government was ready to discuss the paper leak matter “as per rules” of the Houses.
  • “When the discussion is to be held, the duration of the discussion and under what rule the discussion is to be held should be decided after speaking with floor leaders of all parties,” he told the Lok Sabha. “There should be a construction discussion for the future of the youth of this country – this is what the government wants.”
  • Protests spread to several cities on Wednesday in solidarity with the youth agitation at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. In Patna’s JP Golambar area, police used water cannons, tear gas shells and a lathi-charge to disperse students marching towards Raj Bhavan under the banner of the All India Students Association, The Indian Express reported.
  • Demonstrations were also reported from Mumbai, where more than 300 protesters gathered in Chembur demanding the resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pradhan. Police detained some protesters, Scroll reported.
  • Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Anish Gawande claimed on Wednesday that the Mumbai Police had detained students from their houses without any warrants.  “They have been taken to police stations across the city,” he said in a social media post. “This is nothing short of kidnapping.” 
  • Congress workers were detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, the party’s MLAs wore black bands in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly demanding a discussion on the issue, while demonstrators supporting the Opposition party clashed with police outside Lok Bhavan in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, Dainik Jagran reported.
  • Protests were also reported from Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jalandhar, the newspaper reported.
  • The Supreme Court refused to urgently hear a petition alleging that the police used excessive force against the protesters on Monday. “Don’t waste our time and don’t waste your time,” said Chief Justice Surya Kant. When the petitioner said that he can submit video evidence of police excesses, the bench said that it was “not interested” and did not “have time to watch”. Read more about this here.
  • Meanwhile, Union Health Minister JP Nadda told The Indian Express that the government is “always open” to take the talks forward with the protesters. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader will reportedly meet representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party on Wednesday.
  • The campaign’s spokesperson Saurav Das told reporters on Wednesday that the police informed the group that Nadda wanted to meet them at his residence, but they declined the invitation, PTI reported. “If ministers want to talk, they should come to the people,” the news agency quoted Das as saying. “The discussion should take place at Jantar Mantar.”
  • He added that the campaign was nevertheless willing to be “reasonable”. “If the government is concerned about security at the protest site, we are willing to meet at a neutral venue near Jantar Mantar,” Das said. However, he stressed that “there is no point in calling us for meaningless discussions,” PTI reported.
  • Das and another spokesperson of the campaign Ashutosh Ranka had met Nadda on Monday and submitted their demands. Ranka later told the Hindustan Times that “the meeting turned out to be useless”. He added that the government will have to come to the protest site the next time they want to speak to the Cockroach Janta Party.

Delhi metro closures

  • The Delhi Metro on Wednesday closed 16 stations, mostly in central Delhi, till further instructions, citing “security reasons”.
  • The stations are Lok Kalyan Marg, which is near the prime minister’s residence, Rajiv Chowk located at Connaught Place, and Patel Chowk and Janpath near the Jantar Mantar protest site.
  • Central Secretariat, Seva Teerth, Mandi House, ITO, Ramakrishna Ashram Marg, Barakhambha Road, Supreme Court, Delhi Gate, Indraprastha, Khan Market, Jor Bagh and Shivaji Stadium were the other stations.
  • Interchange facilities remain available at Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House and Central Secretariat.

Aftermath of Monday protest

  • The doctors at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital said a 21-year-old woman who was critically injured during the police action on Monday has been taken off ventilator support, ANI reported.
  • The Delhi Police said it has registered 10 first information reports in connection with Monday’s Parliament march, The Hindu reported. Four cases were registered at Parliament Street police station, three at Connaught Place, and one each at Mandir Marg, Barakhamba Road and Kartavya Path police stations. The cases relate to various incidents during the protest and alleged law-and-order violations, the police said.

Students deserve certainty over chaos, says Pradhan

  • In a social media post on Tuesday night, Pradhan said that the Union government “remains 100% committed” to discussing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for medical admissions and “addressing every genuine concern of our youth” in Parliament.
  • Criticising the Congress, the education minister said that the students of India “deserve far better than being treated as props in a political campaign”. “They deserve certainty over chaos, solutions over slogans and responsibility over disruption,” he added. “We owe our students more than outrage. We owe them answers, reforms and accountability.”
  • He claimed that despite the Union government agreeing to a “comprehensive discussion”, the Congress “chose political spectacle over democratic debate”. Pradhan further alleged that Rahul Gandhi was “manufacturing confrontation after every genuine avenue for discussion has been opened”.
  • His statements came after Rahul Gandhi, along with Congress MP and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were detained by the Delhi Police as they protested outside the prime minister’s residence. They were released hours later.

CJP says protesting only at Jantar Mantar

  • After hundreds of persons gathered in central Delhi’s Connaught Place and adjoining areas on Tuesday evening, the Cockroach Janta Party stated that its demonstration was only being held at the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar. The campaign added that it had not given a call for protesters to assemble anywhere else.
  • “We received reports that some goons may have been sent to other parts of Delhi to create nuisance,” stated the campaign’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke. “They are NOT with Cockroach Janta Party.”

Wangchuk urged to end fast

  • The Cockroach Janta Party on Wednesday appealed to activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his indefinite fast, saying his sacrifice had “inspired thousands of students across the country”. The campaign said it would continue the agitation until its demands for examination reforms and justice were met. The activist has been on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28 as part of the campaign’s protest.
  • A seven-member delegation of Opposition MPs visited Wangchuk at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital on Wednesday to urge him to break his hunger strike, The Hindu reported.
  • On Tuesday evening, Nadda and Union minister Jitendra Singh had also met Wangchuk at the hospital, after he was shifted there from Safdarjung Hospital following directions from the Delhi High Court.

Written by Sneha and Sara Varghese. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar, Neerad Pandharipande and Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: ‘People’s sympathy is now with the youth’: BJP workers worry about crackdown on protests