The Protests Gripping India — and Rattling Modi, by Surbhi Gupta – 22 July 2026

From New Lines Magazine

If the scenes emerging from Delhi reveal anything, it is that fear has begun to loosen its grip on a significant section of the Indian public — the fear of taking to the streets, of questioning the government, of demanding accountability and, above all, the fear of criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Monday, tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of the capital’s tightly controlled central district, home to the seat of India’s government, as chants of “Modi must resign,” “Remove Modi, save the country” and “Down with Modi” rang out with a force that would have been unimaginable just weeks earlier.

For many Indians watching, the images felt surreal. They could scarcely believe that a protest with such strong anti-Modi sentiment was possible in today’s India. Yet it was happening. History was unfolding in front of their eyes. An overwhelming majority of those pouring into the streets were high school and college students, graduates preparing for the fiercely competitive examinations that determine entry into India’s vast government bureaucracy, along with job seekers, young professionals and people from middle-class families, long frustrated with the Modi government.

This has been the biggest protest in Delhi since the mass anti-corruption movement against the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2011, which was followed by nationwide demonstrations after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi, known as the Nirbhaya case. But the level of rage and frustration visible among the public this time is unlike anything previously seen.

People had responded to a call by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a satirical online platform named after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that transformed into a broader protest movement, to march toward the Indian Parliament, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over a series of examination irregularities that resulted in the deaths by suicide of at least 21 students across India. In an earlier era, before Modi, it was normal for ministers to resign and accept moral responsibility for national crises, but in the Modi era, ministers have clung on.

The CJP had been protesting at Jantar Mantar, Delhi’s designated protest site, since June 20, and gained momentum after engineer-turned-activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the protesters on June 28, beginning an indefinite hunger strike to demand Pradhan’s resignation. Wangchuk is a household name in India as the inspiration behind superstar Aamir Khan’s character in the 2009 Bollywood film “Three Idiots,” a popular satire about India’s education system.

For the first two weeks, the protest attracted relatively little public attention. But by the 17th day of 59-year-old Wangchuk’s fast, as concerns mounted that his health, and possibly his life, could be in jeopardy, the movement began to resonate more widely. Public anger intensified dramatically on the 21st day, when Delhi police officers forcibly removed Wangchuk from the protest site. Plainclothes officers carried him away to a public hospital against his wishes under the cover of white sheets. The images quickly spread online and sparked outrage across the country.

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Surbhi Gupta is South Asia Editor at New Lines magazine.

The Protests Gripping India — and Rattling Modi, by Surbhi Gupta – 22 July 2026

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