Nationwide student protests over the NEET-UG 2026 medical entrance exam paper leak are now in their seventh week, with representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the Union government holding a second round of talks this week over the movement’s core demands.
How the crisis unfolded
NEET-UG 2026 was held on 3 May for roughly 2.27 million aspirants. The National Testing Agency cancelled the exam on 12 May after investigators found overlaps between a pre-circulated guess paper and the actual question paper. The controversy triggered widespread anger among students and families who had spent years preparing for the test.
From a viral insult to a movement
The CJP was founded on 16 May by political communications strategist Abhijeet Dipke after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, commenting on unemployed youth, used the words “cockroaches” and “parasites of society.” Protesters embraced the term, and the movement’s Jantar Mantar demonstrations, which began on 6 June, have since spread to cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Shimla and Thrissur.
On 20-21 July, a “Chalo Sansad” march toward Parliament was met with police action, which protesters say involved batons against largely peaceful demonstrators — an incident that further galvanised the movement. The protests have also been marked by grief: several NEET aspirants, including a 23-year-old student in Dehradun, died by suicide in the weeks following the exam cancellation, citing distress over the disrupted admissions process. [Readers in distress can contact India’s national mental health helpline, KIRAN, at 1800-599-0019.]
Demands and government response
CJP’s central demand is the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, alongside a transparent probe, abolition of the NTA, and compensation for affected families. Government representatives have said they view the exam lapses as already “administratively resolved” and have called the resignation demand political, while indicating openness to withdrawing FIR cases against protesting students and compensating bereaved families. No resolution had been announced at the time of publication.
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