By Saurabh Sharma, Anushree Fadnavis and YP Rajesh
NEW DELHI, July 24 (Reuters) – Leaders of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement will meet the government on Friday to try and resolve a face-off over national examination paper leaks although they will not halt nationwide protests, a spokesperson for the group said.
The decision was announced hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike overnight, raising hopes that the two sides could be moving toward a breakthrough in the crisis in which tens of thousands of angry youth have converged on the capital Delhi to demand the resignation of the education minister over the scandal.
The protests represent the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014. Opposition parties have echoed the movement’s demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.
Talks between government ministers and leaders of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) would be held at a neutral venue, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das told reporters overnight.
“We hope that the government comes with an open mind and it will listen to the people of this country who have been out on the roads for so long,” he said. “We will explain our demands to them in greater detail. And we hope that the government will listen to us.”
The nationwide protests would, however, continue, Das added.
“We are not backing out,” he said. “Because, real awakening starts from the grassroots and that is what we really need.”
DELHI METRO SHUTS STATIONS AGAIN
The protests by the CJP began as an online satire and involved only a few hundred young people when they were first launched. But it has grown with the support of millions of online followers, taking the government by surprise.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the movement marched on parliament in violation of a ban on Monday and clashed with police when they pushed them back with tear gas and beat them with canes.
Violence was reported again on Wednesday night when more than 10,000 protesters gathered at the Jantar Mantar protest site in central Delhi.
The movement’s surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as job shortages, as well as frequent exam leaks, analysts say and warn that the government should effectively address the crisis.
On Thursday, authorities shut 16 metro stations, mobile internet services and curtailed business in central Delhi where the protesters have been camped – seen as an attempt to curb the demonstrations – inconveniencing thousands of people.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corp. said it was shutting down 17 stations again from early on Friday morning until further instructions, the third time this week it has resorted to such a large-scale closure of the system which is the lifeline of the capital.
The federal cabinet will meet on Friday and discuss a draft to amend laws to punish culprits behind exam paper leaks and get it approved by parliament at the earliest, Modi said late on Thursday.
But the protesters have rejected the proposal saying the examination system should be fixed to prevent leaks in the first place.
Activist Wangchuk is also expected to explain details of his talks with two government ministers in whose presence he broke his fast, through a video likely on Friday.
(Reporting by YP Rajesh, Tanvi Mehta, Saurabh Sharma, Shanima A, Anushree Fadnavis, Aftab Ahmed, Bhawika Chhabra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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