Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that issues taken up by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in its recent protests were already part of the Congress’s student outreach ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ (voice of the students), adding that his party’s campaign failed to get the kind of response that the CJP got.
“Issues taken up by the CJP at Jantar Mantar had been taken up by us earlier. We had the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ thing where Rahul Gandhi was addressing students about the paper leaks,” Tharoor said during his conversation at the 15th anniversary of India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) in Mumbai.
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Tharoor calls for introspection
Agreeing on the fact that Congress’ student outreach programme did not ‘resonate’ as much as the CJP’s protest, Tharoor said, “We need to ask ourselves what did we fail to do? Did we fail to listen? Was our finger missing from the pulse of the Gen Z?”
CJP started a protest against the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak from June 20, demanding accountability from the government and resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protest, that widely came to be known as India’s Gen Z protest, intensified when educationist and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk sat on an indefinite hunger strike backing the students’ demands. He was later joined by other students and activists.
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The Cockroach Party later called for a Parliament march on July 20, but a few days before the planned march, Wangchuk was removed from the Jantar Mantar protest site. On July 20, the protesting students faced police action which later became the center of a political row as the opposition alleged that pellet guns and AK-47s were used there.
How Congress protested against paper leak
Among the first voices being raised against the alleged paper leaks was the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress. In one of the first protests, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) organised a massive protest in Delhi on May 12, according to news agency PTI. This was days after the National testing agency cancelled the NEET exam after allegations of paper leak.
Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, launched the Chhatron Ki Goonj campaign from Rajasthan’s Kota on June 17. The initiative later moved to Dehradun, where Gandhi interacted with students and families affected by alleged examination irregularities.
Referring to the three-city outreach, Gandhi had earlier said, “In Kota, we exposed the extortion machine feeding on students’ dreams. In Dehradun, we exposed the rigged system behind paper leaks that destroy countless lives. In Prayagraj, we will expose the reality of the job crisis.”
He also said, “The students of our country have stood up against this oppressive regime; they will no longer accept empty promises and hate-filled propaganda. We will ensure their voice is heard across the country.”
