New Delhi: The ongoing demonstration organized by the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar drew significant momentum on Thursday as a wave of prominent Opposition leaders and farmer outfits arrived to extend their formal solidarity. The political visits coincided with a nationwide, one-day mass hunger strike observed by activists and students to back renowned environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk—whose indefinite fast entered its 19th day—and to intensify pressure on the administration regarding comprehensive examination reforms and accountability for recurring paper leaks.
A high-profile delegation from the Samajwadi Party (SP), comprising MPs Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, Mohibbullah Nadvi, and Lakshmikant Nishad, alongside SP State President Naresh Uttam and MLA Dr. Ragini Sonkar, spent considerable time at the protest site interacting with agitating youth. Commending the sheer resilience of Wangchuk and the thousands of students camped out in monsoon conditions, Dimple Yadav asserted that the Samajwadi Party stands firmly with the younger generation in their fight for academic integrity. She issued an open appeal to students, civil society groups, and all major opposition blocks to join the planned July 20 “Chalo Sansad” (Parliament) March, promising that her party would aggressively raise these concerns both on the streets and inside the legislative houses during the Monsoon Session. Backing her statements, Dharmendra Yadav termed the recurring paper leak incidents a full-blown national crisis that threatens the livelihood of millions of hard-working exam aspirants.
The agitation also received crucial backing from agrarian factions as veteran farmer leader Rakesh Tikait joined the protest camp. Addressing the gathering, Tikait urged the demonstrators to maintain the peaceful and democratic nature of their civil disobedience movement, expressing absolute confidence that the combined resolve of farmers and youth would eventually force administrative accountability. Assuring full organizational support for the upcoming July 20 march, Tikait stated that rural communities are closely monitoring the developments and will not allow the voices of the youth to be silenced.
Later in the evening, senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, MP Sanjay Singh, and Delhi Unit President Saurabh Bharadwaj, arrived at Jantar Mantar to register their support. Kejriwal noted that systemic evaluation failures have become a regular occurrence under the current setup, contrasting it with highly secure systems like the IIT entrance examinations, which his own children cleared without any institutional lapses. The visiting political blocks collectively reiterated the movement’s core demands, including a transparent overhaul of the national testing infrastructure, immediate accountability for paper leaks, and the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
