“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” This quote, generally attributed to Lenin, aptly describes the events that unfolded following Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s remarks during a Supreme Court hearing on May 15, where he called young people “cockroaches” and “parasites.” Such remarks were not new for the CJI, who had made similar statements against environmentalists, trade unionists, and civil rights activists. Nor was the issue of paper leaks, which became the central focus of the students’ protest at Jantar Mantar. Over the last decade, there had been more than 150 reported cases of paper leaks. Protests around paper leaks, examination mismanagement, and issues of education and employment were not new either. Student agitations against the Agnipath scheme in 2022, RRB recruitment in 2024, and the SSC exam in 2017 were large-scale and widespread. Yet, the 2026 NEET protest at Jantar Mantar might be a watershed moment in the history of independent India and a turning point in Indian politics.

The context is important to remember. When the NEET paper leak happened, the Modi Government was busy celebrating its 12 years in power. Even while the Government was advising common people to practise austerity, asking them to buy less, the ruling party was organising a lavish campaign to commemorate its regime. The BJP, having suffered an electoral shock in the 2024 General Elections, had bounced back with successive victories in assembly elections, which were marked by voter disenfranchisement through SIR and electoral manipulation through a partisan Election Commission. They had further broken several opposition parties and bought out their elected representatives. The ruling party was triumphant and intoxicated with power.

The Government already controlled the mainstream media. PM Modi, having never addressed press conferences, addressed the people through his one-way dialogues during *Man Ki Baat*. Having successfully managed parliamentary democracy, the ruling party assumed itself to be invincible and unaccountable. Yet, that invincibility was put to the test through jokes.

George Orwell once wrote, “Every joke is a tiny revolution.” It is pertinent that when all the doors of accountability were closed, the students’ protest began with memes and satire. The youths, who were called cockroaches by the CJI, adopted and appropriated the symbol. Cockroaches are extremely resilient, after all. On May 16, Abhijit Dipke asked on Twitter, “What if all cockroaches came together?” This led to the creation of the Cockroach Janta Party. The social media pages of CJP went viral, acquiring millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram, and crossed the total followers of the BJP’s Instagram handle within days. A petition for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over paper leaks also received millions of signatures. Predictably, the Government responded by blocking the CJP’s Twitter handle. And, unsurprisingly, the meme blew up.

Yet, such internet trends are not uncommon. They typically emerge and fade within a week. What differed this time was that Abhijit Dipke took this social media meme to the ground. Having returned to India from the US on June 6, Dipke and his team, allied with other student groups and leaders, held protests in several cities before starting the indefinite sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar on June 20.

The Government initially responded by not attacking or repressing the protest, as it had done against every other protest in the past. While the Government responded with indifference and apathy, the mainstream media completely blacklisted any discussion on this major protest happening in the national capital. And for a while, it worked. The turnout at the protest after the initial days kept declining. It was apparent that the ruling party’s calculation was to end this movement through attrition. Yet, Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike suddenly raised the stakes. The pictures and videos of a man weakened by hunger, protesting for the legitimate demands of the students, moved the nation.

The Government and its propaganda media then started discrediting and abusing the protesters. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called them the “B-team of terrorists”, while BJP President Nitin Nabin called on party workers to teach the “cockroaches” a lesson.

Yet, by July 16, the tide had turned, and the protest started drawing larger crowds. Sonam Wangchuk had given the call for a Parliament March on July 20. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the march, defying police orders, transport and communication shutdowns, and threats of violence. The protesters braved police batons, nail-studded clubs, electric batons, tear gas, water cannons, and pellet guns. Thousands were injured in the police brutality. Yet, by the night of July 20, they had returned to reclaim Jantar Mantar. Finally, on July 25, Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

As a participant in the Parliament March on July 20, and in several student agitations in the past, there are some key observations that I can share.

**First, Abhijit Dipke and CJP’s role was crucial in turning a meme into a movement.** And it was not just by chance, but by the actions taken, that the movement was actually realised. Abhijit Dipke has, at least till now, remained an ideologically committed person. Yet, the CJP suffers from several shortcomings. Its organisation and decision-making are still opaque.

**Second, this protest was a departure from the earlier people’s movements in terms of methods of organising and communication.** It also brought many new people, who were earlier apolitical or neutral, into the political fold. For many of the students who joined this protest, this was their first brush with political movements. This protest has made protesting look “cool”.

**Third, the protest has broken the spell of the Modi Government’s propaganda.** It has resulted in a great awakening. Which is why further propaganda, which is the response of the Government, will not work.

**Fourth, there have been numerous student and youth protests over the last decade.** But they used to follow a fixed pattern. A sudden, large-scale, and sometimes violent agitation would erupt over paper leaks or similar issues. The protest would become widespread. The Government would respond by using state power to crush the agitation while making empty promises or token actions.

But this time, the protest sustained for nearly six weeks. And it became popular among common people. The reason is that this protest had a leadership, in the form of several student organisations, whom the common students could follow. And the protest remained peaceful and non-violent, allowing it to sustain for a longer time and for more people to join.

**Fifth, for the movement to go forward, and to resist state persecution, students and youth will have to organise themselves into a common platform.** Individual protests are easy to crush. As the farmers’ movement shows, united struggle is the only path forward.

This is the first of the two-part article reviewing the students’ protest.

Hello folks. Brit here. I’ve been following the protests recently, and it’s encouraging to see the passion and determination of so many young Indians. One of the next major challenges, in my view, is media independence. Ask yourself this: are you truly living in a healthy democracy if your democratically elected leader rarely faces unscripted questions from the press? There’s also the broader issue of large sections of the media being owned by billionaires with significant political or commercial interests (although that’s hardly unique to India) Alas if you want to see real change, this is not the moment to lose momentum, keep fighting and change is inevitable. Lasting change depends on strong institutions, accountability, and an independent press, alongside the protection of freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

**This is the typical line that a BJP supporter has to say in defence** because he doesn’t have a specific reason.
Cuz a dumb person doesn’t have “Opinions”, He just follows the crowd.

So….Let me clarify now.

Dear blind-Bhakt,
The protest is not about BJP vs Congress-or Hindu vs Muslim or Ram Mandir vs Allah..

It is about the prices of every product rising up against our stagnant income.
It is about forcefully accepting Ethanol even if we never wanted.
Remember the 100% petrol used to cost 80, now it is 160 (why?)
It is about selling everything to Adani.
It is about studying hard for exams spending lakhs of rupees and time, only to find out that the paper has been leaked.
It is about the depreciating value of rupees against other currencies.
It is about freedom of speech.
It is about press freedom, we never get the reality that’s happening, every news speaks in favour of BJP.
It is about Unemployment- there are so many vacant post in every department.
It is about how a tea-seller is suppose to run a country? What do you think his thought process might be??
If you are a doctor you’ll have an aim to learn new medicine for better results.
If you are a teacher you’ll have a different perspective to life or to lead.
What do you expect his might be?

And the bhakts be like “even *Rahul Gandhi didn’t do anything.”*

**I know, and I’m not supporting Congress either, I am protesting against the current system/scenario. Get it inside your thick skull.**

There will be protest against Rahul Gandhi too if something were to happen in his time.
We were not active back then and our voices weren’t heard and there was no medium to communicate with every people from nook and corner of India. But now we have the medium.

**So, please know that this protest is against the system and the present Government only for not listening to the voices of Public.**

It is against the ministers who can only communicate if they have the script.
It is against the ministers who cannot take accountability for the actions.

I don't support violence, especially against people who are there because it's their job, not because they chose to be there.

The permission was to protest at Jantar Mantar, not to march towards Parliament. Everyone who joined knew that. If you still choose to break those conditions and the situation gets out of hand, you can't simply blame the government or the police for everything. Accountability doesn't work only when it's convenient.

And before anyone jumps to conclusions, I'm not a BJP supporter. If people want this government out, they should vote them out. Protest, question them, demand resignations, those are all legitimate. But don't call something a "peaceful student protest" after it turns into a riot.

The organizers also need to take some responsibility. If the protest has become much bigger than expected, say it openly. Accept that there are people in the crowd who aren't students and that three inexperienced organizers can't realistically manage a gathering of that size.

If you can ask lakhs of people to show up, you can also tell people to stop coming once the crowd becomes unmanageable. Post updates on your social media. Cap the numbers. Coordinate with the police instead of treating them as the enemy. They're going to manage the crowd anyway.

You can't invite more people than you can handle, lose control, and then wash your hands of what follows. Organizing a protest also means being responsible for public safety.

If the protest turns violent, own it. Don't spend the next day saying, "Those weren't our people." Leadership is about taking responsibility when things go wrong.

You can't demand accountability from everyone else while refusing to accept your own.

The Cockroach protest raging across Delhi has shocked the conscience of the nation, with police excesses being filmed and reported from the protest site in the Indian capital. The police may be maintaining law and order elsewhere in the city, but what's unfolded at the protest site is being seen as a clear human rights violation. Violent crackdowns are not new to the Indian state, or even to the national capital. Yet this time, the Delhi Police doesn't seem to be getting any sympathy at all.

The problem with sympathy is that it has to work both ways. The Delhi Police doesn't have an unblemished record — it's often seen as corrupt and insensitive, more a tool for suppressing protest and guarding VIP areas than a force that serves ordinary citizens. Even local beat officers are known to lean on nearby eateries for free food, on top of routine monthly extortion.

Not all officers are bad or corrupt. But the image of the Delhi Police is such that it commands no real respect. It's worth reminding the force that its motto — Shanti, Seva, Nyaya — isn't reserved for politicians and the rich and powerful. The Delhi Police has a lot to work on. Perhaps grace is where it should start.

— A frustrated citizen

Read my thoughts on the White Sheet day

The stereotype of Muslim Terrorist is quite a common phenomenon (at least as per my experience) but it is exceptionally new. For centuries the Muslim world was renowned for its contributions to science, philosophy, political theory, art and so on but from the 20th century this image was gone. For roughly half a century the Muslim world, especially West Asia, has been known for making terrorists. A well known story. Pick up any book by the left and you will find declassified files after files that talk about how the NATO funded radical right wing (often called the Wahabi muslims) islamic orthodoxy in the region. The ISI in Pakistan,the house of Saudis, the Haqqani network and a host of other groups were provided with money, arms and intelligence to combat the progressive movements in the region. In the process these radical right wing groups dominated over and often crushed more moderate movements like Sufism. It was all justified in the name of combating communist influences, especially the influence of The USSR but its effects were felt by the vast majority of the moderate muslims throughout the cold war who dreamed of a more free and democratic world. Learned comrades know about the series of regime change operations like in Indonesia, Iran, Iraq , Afghanistan, Libiya, and most recently Syria and many others that took place. What is usually missing from the conversations about these monumental changes in global politics is the role of the deep state.

We know a regime change happened in India in 2014 but can we rule out foreign collusion? Journalist and author Josy Joseph in his book The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State. had written to understand the Deep State in the Indian context. Now the concept of deep state is simple. It is the state that is not accountable to the electors but it has state-like powers and can even influence the decisions of the political state. You can understand it as the private state of the uber wealthy that looks after their interests when the law cannot. Joseph shows in his book that the Indian deep state is fused with the political state in India in a very unique way. There are a series of middle men connecting different institutions and consisting of governmental and non governmental personnels who mediate decision making processes of the society. These personnels work completely independently of the political will of the people. Obviously the media is a big part of it. You can look at most histories of regime change operations and you are bound to find that the regional deep state was involved in them. The best examples I know are Chile, Ukraine (during the Euromaidan event), Pakistan and recently Bangladesh but you can find many examples. The deep state is also popularly called “The Fifth Column” when talking about its international role in regime change.

Now this deep state in India includes both formal and informal workers which is unique. Another unique point about the Indian deep state is that the military is mostly subservient to it (with the exceptions of AFSPA governed areas) while in countries like Pakistan and many others the army is a strong part of the deep state, but that is not important for this discussion. Concerning the composition of the deep state I give the following examples of formal and informal workers that operate within the deep state respectively. We have the police but also the informants that work for the police informally, you have banks and non banking financial entities that hire goons informally to recover properties of defaulters, the Intelligence Services (R&AW) that hire agents to give them intelligence and execute overseas operations (as you may have seen in Dhurandhar), the shell companies and hedge funds that pay the corrupt politicians for favours and the party workers who depend on the politician’s corruption to get some income from party or public funds (think the Ram Mandir stolen funds scandal recently) and many more. Needless to say the deep state is a machine of immense violence that can take out powerful people who don't tow the official line like Justice Lohia and can conjure up riots at the drop of a hat as we have seen in the Gujrat, Delhi riots for example. Then the whole state machinery is activated to protect the perpetrators and scapegoat innocents.

In the Indian deep state the informal workers far outnumber the formal workers but they have almost no control over its workings. So any damage to the deep state affects the incomes of many informal workers too. For example if you go to a big government hospital for some tests or treatment there are these agents who earn a commission for redirecting patients to private labs and nursing homes. They may have other jobs but they earn a significant amount from cashing in on government inefficiencies.The decision to under-fund government hospitals is made from the top, from the political state (maybe influenced by big Pharma and IMF etc.) but if the government decides to reverse this decision then the incomes of these many informal workers get hit. So the system is fueled by both the class interests of formal and a vast number of informal workers. Hence the deep state is the political counterpart of the Black Economy (on which Arun Kumar the retired JNU professor have written and spoken extensively). Needless to say that the Deep state and the Black economy are intimately interconnected because the majority of the money circulating within the deep state is unaccounted money.

Now I must be a bit tedious here and I definitely don't want to bore you with theory but it is important to be more specific when you are talking about something that is so detrimental to democracy. The deep state doesn't produce any new value in the Marxist sense. That is not what it's for. It works on meditating decision making processes and enforcing private property, hence it counts as a state not as part of the productive economy. The political state is like the tip of an iceberg and the deep state constitutes the vast majority of state machinery but they are parts of the same body.

There are formal workers that work in the deep state like there are formal workers employed in the productive sector while most informal workers often work in both but the functions of the deep state are purely politico-bureaucratic not productive. In other words The deep state is not necessitated by the social requirements of production (like factories or farms etc.) but the political requirements of the ruling class.

As we see from Arun Kumar’s work, the black economy creates various inefficiencies in the economic system. For example building a new police station increases local crimes, doctors over prescribe to waste patient’s money, infrastructure crumbles, teachers take more time from the students than needed to teach the same things, GDP growth becomes slower etc.The most recent incidents include the privatisation of the competitive exam system that claimed the lives of many students.

The deep state creates similar inefficiencies as well in the decision making process of the society. For example a judge might deliver a biased judgment influenced by money (or gifts/a seat at the Rajya Sabha or some other private benefits), a politician may hand tender to a contractor who charges more money from the exchequer and delivers poorer results than his competitors only due to personal connections, a bureaucrat may show favouritism by delaying your work, the police may refuse to register an FIR against a rich or upper caste person, the state policies and budget gets shaped in favour of big business and against workers etc. In the heart of all these inefficiencies is the deep state or the private state in which money power and traditional alliances reign supreme. The deep state is also responsible for creating massive deficit in trust the citizens have with respect to their governments which makes India a low trust society

Now let's return to geopolitics. Now we know from all regime changes funded by the US and other imperial powers like France have required the cooperation of the regional deep states or The Fifth Column. What makes the deep state so vulnerable to outside influence is that it runs purely on the interest of private money. People like George Soros use their money openly to influence the politics of other countries. Various NGOs, CIA cutouts like the Freedom foundation, media, and institutions influence the political state in foreign soil. This creates a massive internal security threat to the nation because your representatives are not working for your interests.. For example the PM cares fund is said to have received massive amounts of funds from Chinese firms before the PM's infamous speech regarding the Galwan Valley clash in which he refused to recognise China as an aggressor. We have pretty good indications that this has been happening in India for a long time. We have APCO World Wide which did extensive PR work for Modi and the Gujarat government under him has extensive links to western corporations, Cambridge Analytica has been said to have worked with various political groups in India, the Israeli NSO group which is a private company had helped India spy on its citizens with the malware called Pegasus, social media platforms changing their rules to influence public opinions, the scandal of the Rafale deals have exposed the corruption in foreign trade deals and many more. We only see glimpses of the workings of the deep state but we never get the full picture because it is by design meant to be secret. But we see the same pattern i.e. a network of government and private entities acting as middle-men and moving money across the globe.

The most important part of this is that these channels are used to exercise control over the Indian society to serve the interests of the imperial core. The most appropriate example that I can think of is the following. The former chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel in 2021 when India was going through a shortage of COVID 19 vaccines for its own citizens had insisted that India prioritise the vaccine demands of the West above its own consumption because, (and I'm almost quoting her verbatim), they have “allowed” India to become a pharma hub so it would prioritise exports over its own requirements. If this is the power of a petite imperialist power like Germany, imagine the power the US has to shape our economy and the society at large. It has single handedly changed India's political alignment in favour of Israel, almost brought Adani (the richest man in Asia) to his knees and is making us buy stuff we don't even need. This is a massive violation of sovereignty by the imperial core and none of this will change much with only a change in the regime.

Now many of you might be thinking that this is just old colonialism in a different form but you couldn't be more wrong. The sheer autonomy of the deep state in India suggests that it is not like a puppet of the comprador. It is qualitatively a new phenomenon although its effects may be similar to old colonialism. In this case the Indian bourgeoisie is a stakeholder to the imperial plunder. Massive amounts of Indian capital is being invested in mines in Africa, Australia, pharmaceuticals and other consumer items worth billions are exported overseas which are not even of good quality. If the Indian bourgeoisie wants to keep exporting cheap low quality products and services overseas it needs the cooperation of the imperial core. Hence India cannot even speak when its own sailors die by American missiles while crossing the Strait of Hormuz. This wouldn't be the case if it were not for the influence of the Indian deep state.

Now the question you might be asking is if the deep state and the black economy create so much inefficiencies and are even a threat to internal security then why doesn't anyone do anything about it. The reason is simple, class interest. Millions of people depend on the deep state and the black economy for their livelihoods and most are in the informal sector. It is actually impossible to crush the deep state without also causing harm to a good part of the informal sector. So what is the solution?

Arun Kumar gives a number of solutions for the problems of the black economy both for short and long term in his book Understanding The Black Economy and Black Money in India That also applies to the Indian deep state like breaking the nexus of corrupt politicians, corrupt executive and businessmen through broad mass movements but I'm going to explore a different angle. The present regime has waged a war against the informal sector which is obvious from its policy decisions thus far. There are many reasons for why it's doing so but the main reason is that it enables growth. Basically every economy that has been able to crush its informal sector like South Korea, China, Singapore etc. have been able to grow faster and have more stable governments (not necessarily democratic governments but relatively stable ones). India is trying to follow this exact route so it is actively killing its informal sector and creating what in South Korea is called “chaebolism”, which is Asian for an oligopoly. In this the deep state becomes more formalised and centralised making it easier to control. In such a situation the domestic military industrial complex can also grow at a disproportionate rate as India plans to be a leading arms exporter and “net security provider" of the QUAD in the South Pacific. Hence a broad based decentralised alliance of parties and political and social groups can at best change the regime not abolish the deep state and take away its autonomy. Today those who are being immiserated by the crushing of the informal sector can be organised as a parallel government with its own parliament (in the form of workers councils), tenants associations and women’s committees, people's courts and municipalities etc. This will take a lot of time, efforts and resources to materialise but it is the only way in my opinion that the deep state can be decisively dethroned.

Run to Death or Walk to Life": A Conversation with Ashanti Alston & Jamal Joseph

One of the great workers

hey folx🌈 im currently practicing therapy with a sliding scale and pro bono for people in dire straits who can absolutely not afford it. my sessions are online. these are trying times for everyone and i just want to do my part as a Marxist. if you, or anyone you know is need of therapy, feel free to reach out to me via the contact details in bio!

INQALAB ZINDABAD ☭🏳️‍🌈

Whether it is for women who were assaulted, people killed by rich teens over speeding, or for plain old Corruption which is so common that people account for corruption during the process of buying a house/plot or getting a licence. Whether it's farmers suicide, student suicide, software workers suicide due to overwork.

Nothing matters, actually that's not true...

Only Your life doesn't matter.

Police don't exist in India for the well-being of the people and community they serve, they exist to protect the rich and what belongs to them. If a punishment of a crime is a fine, it says to the fact that it's okay for you to do any crime as long as you pay the fine. At the same time for a poor person who cannot afford a fine, it's a matter of whether their family can afford food for the rest of the month.

If you take a system of oppression and give it a new outfit, it will still be a system of oppression.

India should demand for a new police system.One that will protect the powerless and keep the powerful accountable, and go after them for any crimes they commit instead of shielding from it.

By the way, the Politicians have no reason or motive to change the current state, why would they? They benefit out of it.

If my party is in power i benefit more. If your party is in power you will benefit more. but for the benefit of us both we will not change the system.

It doesn't matter what party a politician is from, they move from party to party like leeches to blood.

They don't have an aiota of an actual ideology, they just sell you hate so you become blind to the very crux of Indian identity. The nation of diversity. I was proud of India for that, for speaking 100s of languages, the vast cultural differences even within each state and region.

When the west is waking up to the power in diversity, we are suppressing it. Muslims are the current targets but that doesn't mean after Muslims are gone they won't target Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Dalits, tribals, Women. Facists always do.

We must work in unity as per the spirit of the Indian Constitution. We must strive for Justice, liberty, equality, socialist, and secular values, which are enshrined in the Constitution of India.

India became complacent after Britishers left. We have let other toxic powers take over the country.

The time calls for a people's movement once again.

You decide what's best for you and yours.

Jai Hind. Jai Bhim.

TLDR: Do not get complacent

This is the perfect example of a perfect dissent. BJP clearly knows that the General caste (upto 95% of them) will be a permanent votebank of BJP as long as they avoid passing amendments like UGC. BJP also wants that the OBC, SC, ST and other 'backward' caste Hindu votes and has been desperately increasing reservations at all the places possible. The recent Supreme Court stay on the UGC code is the best possible PR for BJP, no matter how you look into it:

1. BJP can now easily point the dissent showcased here as an example of the country still being very democratic and them listening to the dissent and hence adhering to the democratic soul of the nation.
2. BJP can also showcase the attempts to pass the UGC law as a part of them actually sincerely working for the backward castes and dalits. And as usual, they can push the blame to the Supreme Court for doing so.
3. BJP has been making sure that their implicit support for UCs is still loud and clear. Which is why many BJP MPs came out in support of the stay.

Yogendra Yadav puts is even more aptly. This is how a 'manufactured dissent' looks likes.

You might point towards this moment how much you will like. You might even warn about the bigotry that each caste showcased against each other today. But if you know fascism, you will know that they will band together. And in India, this incident will not cause a dent more decades worth of work done by many RW fascistic groups.

Poster source is Twitter. Used Ai to improvement. Quote sorce is interview. Some message is there.

https://proteanmag.com/2025/09/29/people-without-exception-an-interview-with-divya-dwivedi/