NEW DELHI (AP) — Supporters of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party banged steel plates with spoons in a protest Saturday to demand the resignation of the education minister over allegations of examination irregularities and repeated paper leaks.
The protest near Parliament in New Delhi by hundreds of students and young supporters of the nascent movement added to the pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government while also seeking wider support among Indians.
Authorities deployed heavy security and police used cameras and drones to monitor the protest.
Some carried placards and others banged plates, their noise cutting through the crowd protesting and demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The banging of plates appeared to satirize Modi’s call for Indians to step onto balconies and rooftops and bang utensils in solidarity with front-line health workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.