India’s Education Minister Steps Down in Victory for Cockroach Party Protesters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India appeared to avert one of the biggest crises to hit his government in more than a decade by acquiescing to the demands of an upstart youth movement, prompting its leaders to call off nationwide protests that had shown few signs of fizzling.

The concessions, including the resignation of India’s education minister — a key demand of the protesters — represent a rare retreat for Mr. Modi, a strongman under whom the space for dissent has shrunk steadily in India, the world’s largest democracy. The minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, a key player in Mr. Modi’s political party, stepped down on Saturday, after demonstrators repeatedly demanded accountability over a botched medical school exam.

“We have done it,” said Abhijeet Dipke, 30, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, whose satirical name belies the explosive power it acquired just months after he turned a joke into a youth political movement. Loud cheers erupted at the protest site near Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century observatory in New Delhi, where he spoke.

“What did they say? That no one in this government resigns?” Mr. Dipke said. “As the saying goes, “The world bends, if you know how to make it bend.”

Not long after, another party leader said in a statement that the protests had been called off because the government had agreed to all of its demands, including compensation for the families of students who had died by suicide after the recent scandal.

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