Image source, Getty Images

The Delhi Metro has reopened all station entrances after shutting more than a dozen stations when crowds swelled around Jantar Mantar following the police crackdown on protesters.

The closures disrupted thousands of commuters, many of whom had to get off at distant stations and complete their journeys by foot, bus or auto-rickshaw.

The Metro gave no reason for the shutdowns, but they were widely seen as an attempt to limit access to the protest site.

Despite the restrictions, hundreds of people continued to gather at Jantar Mantar throughout the week.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

The CJP movement has been one of the most visible expressions of public dissent against PM Modi’s government in recent years.

Pressure began growing on Modi after Monday’s brutal crackdown on protesters when police and paramilitary personnel used batons, wooden sticks and tear gas to chase them away. Tens of thousands had responded to the CJP’s call for a march to parliament and reached central Delhi.

Videos of profusely bleeding young men and women being repeatedly hit by sticks and batons shocked India and attracted condemnation from all the opposition parties. The Congress party has alleged that the security forces also used pellet guns on protesters, sending shockwaves through India.

Police said 118 of their personnel were also injured. But major opposition parties, farmer leaders, activists and celebrities largely blamed the police and paramilitary forces for triggering the violence.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

Though the CJP has now called off the protest, the crowds here at Jantar Mantar are still growing.

The main road in central Delhi where the Cockroach Janta Party's stage has been set up is not especially wide, but it is now packed from end to end.

There are people as far as I can see - filling the road, spilling into adjoining streets and continuing to stream in.

Celebrations are being continuously pierced with appeals of calm as the crowds continue to swell. Volunteers are doing their best to keep order but everyone wants to get close to the stage to see or get a photo with the CJP leaders - who have said they don't want to be called heroes but they are being seen as exactly that by many in the crowd.

Also on the scene are scores of personnel from the RAF and the Delhi Police, most of them wearing full riot gear.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

It took the “cockroaches” - as Dipke and the CJP protesters call themselves - five weeks to force a government minister to resign.

In end-June, when I first visited Jantar Mantar, the main protest venue, the CJP protest had already been going on for a week.

It was small, with a rag-tag bunch of a couple of hundred young people hanging around. Sonam Wangchuk, respected Gandhian activist, had begun an indefinite hunger strike in their support just a day earlier.

As days passed, his condition began to deteriorate. A week later he’d lost more than 8kg, grown frail and was in pain.

As sympathy rose for Wangchuk, who was already well-known in India as the inspiration behind the 2009 hit film 3 Idiots, thousands began to arrive at the protest venue to express solidarity with “Sonam sir”.

Image source, Getty Images

He was forcibly removed by the police last Saturday and taken to hospital. The CJP alleged he had been roughly handled, leading to a huge outrage in India.

Wangchuk’s continued fast in hospital and Monday’s brutal crackdown on those attempting to march to the parliament was what turned the tide in favour of the CJP - ultimately leading to Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday.

Crowds at Delhi's Jantar Mantar are elated after India's education minister stepped down. The BBC's Vikas Pandey reports.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

Just a little while ago, I met a protester whom I have seen almost every day this week. He is always seen cleaning the site with a smile.

But today his smile was wider and brighter. "It's done, we won. What an amazing feeling," Vishal Rathore said.

But he adds that he will stay put because he wants the protesters to leave the place "squeaky clean".

"So we will be here for a few more days," he said.

It's not clear whether his plans will change now that the strike has been called off.

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

The victory of these Gen Z protesters is one that is likely to be remembered for a long time.

Their movement has persuaded one of India's most powerful political leaders - Prime Minister Narendra Modi - to concede to one of its central demands after weeks of silence.

It is something even India's opposition parties have rarely managed to achieve over the past 12 years.

The questions about what comes next for the Cockroach Janta Party will come soon enough. But its leaders are not ready to answer them yet.

For now, it is simply time to celebrate after weeks on the streets - protesting in temperatures above 40C, standing through torrential rain and refusing to give up.

At Delhi's Jantar Mantar, where the CJP has been protesting for weeks now, there is a sense of jubilation in the air. Many people are chanting, dancing and singing to celebrate what they see as a victory.'This shows that the government has to listen to us,' one protester told the BBC's Yogita Limaye.

After meeting federal ministers, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said the government had accepted all of the group's demands.

They included the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, 10m rupees (£77,737; $103,554) in compensation for the families of people who allegedly died by suicide after the exam paper leak, and no legal action against those who joined the protests.

Speaking at a press conference, Das said the group was withdrawing the protest "in good faith" and added that it had shared a draft of its written guarantee with the government, which would respond by Tuesday.

"All our demands have been accepted. We request the protestors to peacefully withdraw the protest with immediate effect," CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said.

We have just heard a CJP spokesperson say that they are calling off their protest after the government accepted its other demands.

We are bringing you more shortly.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in parliament, has called Pradhan’s resignation a “major step towards revamping our education system”.

"Heartiest congratulations to every young person and student who took to the streets and stood firm to protect democracy, the constitution, and their own future," he wrote on X.

“I am proud of you all.”

Gandhi demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to the students and the government take action against those responsible for violence against protesters.

Image source, Rahul Gandhi/X

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

This has been an extraordinary week in Indian politics that has culminated in Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan giving in to the cockroach protesters’ demand to resign. Here's how it happened:

1. Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been sitting on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in support of the CJP for three weeks, was forcibly removedby the police in a morning raid on 18 July and taken to hospital.
2. Tens of thousands of protesters turned up on 20 July to take part in the CJP and Wangchuk’s call to march on the parliament as it began its monsoon session. The first round of talks between the CJP and government ministers failed to arrive at a consensus. A brutal crackdown left dozens of protesters wounded when police used batons and tear gas on them. Police said 118 of their personnel were also injured.
3. The violence against the youth lead to a massive outrage in India and helped swell the crowds of protesters who came in ever larger numbers to show their anger. The disaffection also spread to other parts of India, with large crowds turning out to protest in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and several other cities.
4. The government reached out to Wangchuk in hospital on Tuesday night in a bid to persuade him to call off his fast – which he finally did early Friday morning.
5. After ignoring the protesters for nearly five weeks, PM Modi finally broke his silence on Thursday to say they had “decided to set up fast-track courts to ensure swift and stringent punishment for those involved in paper leaks”. Just before Thursday midnight, he posted a selfie video saying a tough new law on examination paper leaks was being prepared.

Image source, EPA

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from Jantar Mantar, Delhi

Image source, Getty Images

I remember speaking to CJP's founder Abhijeet Dipke when the Boston University alumnus launched this movement just over a month ago.

Despite his background in politics, he told me he had created the Cockroach Janta Party's social media accounts "as a joke".

Now, the movement he helped found has secured a major concession from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government - a rare moment where sustained public pressure appears to have forced a powerful government to change course.

When we spoke, Dipke did not rule out the CJP eventually becoming a political party. But he insisted that his immediate focus was on building a peaceful movement.

Many protesters have told me that part of the movement's appeal lies precisely in the fact that it is not a political party.

With one of its central demands now met, the question is - what comes next for the Cockroach Janta Party?

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

We are now slightly away from the protest site, and I can see young people walking and celebrating on almost every arterial road leading to Jantar Mantar.

Some are carrying flags, others are chanting slogans, while groups continue making their way towards the protest site.

"We want to get to Jantar Mantar," one young man tells me. "But if we can't, we'll just party wherever we are."

Even as police restrictions remain in place, the crowds are continuing to grow.

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

This isn't the first time PM Modi's government has faced big protests. And it's not the first time it's been forced into a climbdown either.

Back in 2021, the government repealed farm laws after a year-long agitation by farmers. But those earlier protests were seen to be about issues that affected specific groups or religions.

This one resonated with a large section of middle-class India, cutting across identities of religion, caste or sectors. And while it centred around the specific issue of medical entrance exam leaks, increasingly what we have seen on the ground is people voicing their anger about the lack of educational opportunities and jobs in India.

The protests have also been mostly organic - people learning about them on social media and deciding they wanted to come out too.

That is a key reason why a government that has been so confident in dealing with protests in the past seemed rattled this time.

For the first time in 12 years, Modi seemed at his wits' end, putting out videos two nights in a row hoping to reach out to India's youth.

But they seemingly fuelled the backlash further.

After the resignation, the question is, can the prime minister regain lost ground? And can he regain the trust of people who told us they used to be his supporters but were extremely disappointed with how he reacted to these protests?

Zoya Mateen

This may be remembered as a protest made up of not just marches and slogans, but also memes, reels, fit checks and jokes.

For days, young protesters documented almost every moment online. There were "get ready with me" videos before marches, memes after clashes with police, workout reels about running from baton charges and jokes made while crying when hit by tear gas.

Humour wasn't a distraction from the movement; it became one of its defining languages.

Those videos travelled far beyond the protest sites. They drew in curious onlookers, helped others follow events in real time and, in many cases, persuaded first-time protesters to join in.

Today, as crowds celebrate Pradhan's resignation at Jantar Mantar, it is worth remembering that the same internet culture many dismissed as frivolous helped carry forward one of India's biggest youth-led protest movements in years.

The placards mattered - but so did the reels.

Want to read more on this? Head here.

Image source, Zoya Mateen

...here's what has happened so far:

• Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned, in a significant win for a youth-led protest movement that gathered momentum over the past month.
• The resignation follows weeks of demonstrations led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a collective that began as satire before expanding into a broader campaign for accountability and education reforms.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted Pradhan's resignation earlier on Saturday. The government has not yet announced who will replace him as minister.
• Protesters are continuing to gather at Delhi's Jantar Mantar - the main protest site - with many celebrating what they see as a major victory.
• The CJP has welcomed Pradhan's resignation but says its demands go beyond that - they have not yet announced their next steps.
• There is no clarity yet on whether the protests will end now, continue in a different form or evolve into a broader movement.
• Security remains tight around the protest site, with additional barricades and police checkpoints in place.

We'll continue bringing you the latest developments throughout the day.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) national president Nitin Nabin has said that Pradhan’s decision to step down reflects the "highest standards of integrity and selfless service in public life".

Pradhan is one of the BJP’s senior leaders and a close aide of Prime Minister Modi.

In a social media post, Nabin lauded Pradhan for playing a pivotal role in reforming India’s educational landscape.

“The party stands firmly with Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji in this decision.”

Image source, Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The most important thing about India's student protests is not the paper leaks.

It's what they reveal about democracy.

For years, politics has revolved around elections, identity and ideology. This movement asks a simpler question: can the state still govern competently and fairly?

Millions of young Indians see competitive exams as their only path to a better life. When that promise is broken, they are demanding not just justice but accountability.

As political scientist Yamini Aiyar puts it, they are seeking "accountability for governance in sites that are non-electoral".

That may be the movement's real legacy.

Democracies do not live by elections alone. They survive when governments are held accountable between elections too.

If the CJP protests have achieved anything, they have reminded India that democratic legitimacy comes not just from winning votes, but from governing well.

Read my story here

Vikas Pandey
Reporting from Jantar Mantar

Since news of Pradhan's resignation broke, politicians from all parties have been making their way to Jantar Mantar.

As speeches are made from the stage, one slogan cuts through the celebrations.

"Just because you're in the opposition, don't smile too much," protesters scream.

"Accountability is a system now," they continue. "We'll ask you the same questions."

The line draws some of the biggest cheers I've heard all day.

For all the celebrations here, it's also a reminder that many protesters see this as something bigger than the resignation of one minister - a demand for accountability, from whoever is in power.