Indian govt seeks time on youth protesters' minister resignation demand

NEW DELHI, July 24: Leaders of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement said on Friday that the government has sought time until Saturday afternoon to respond on their demand for the education minister's resignation over exam paper leaks, following talks between the two sides.

The talks came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike, raising hopes that the two sides could reach a breakthrough after tens of thousands of angry youth converged in the capital Delhi this week to demand the minister's resignation.

The anti-government 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.

Friday’s talks were held between senior federal ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh on one side, and Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, spokespersons of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth movement, on the other.

The CJP leaders said they had conveyed that nothing would be acceptable to them without Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, and warned that without this, protests would spread.
"The government has asked for time until tomorrow afternoon to respond on this point (the resignation)," Ranka told reporters. "We hope the government will dismiss Dharmendra Pradhan at the earliest, or that he will resign, so that we can bring this matter to a conclusion."�" REUTERS