Thousands have turned up for the Cockroach Janta Party’s march to Parliament on Monday, filling the road from Jantar Mantar to the Tolstoy Marg–Sansad Marg intersection. Police are trying to block the march with barricades and used batons after some protesters tried to push through. 

The size of the crowd marks a dramatic shift from just days earlier, before Sonam Wangchuk’s forcible removal to hospital on Saturday morning galvanised the protest.

Whatever the intent of the police action on Saturday, the effect was to bring people in. Neha Rajouria was one of them – a biology tutor originally from Rajasthan, she reached Jantar Mantar on July 18, in the hours after Wangchuk was driven away, and stayed the night. She carried with her a decade-old grouse.

“My father’s close friend’s son had committed suicide by self immolating himself back in 2016 after the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test paper leak,” she said. “It has been a decade since then, there is still no accountability regarding such incidents.”

Neha had herself appeared for the AIPMT test in 2016, and being a teacher now made her feel it was her moral duty to be there. She wanted to do it for her friend who had died, and for the students who gave their lives this year. She felt this was the bare minimum one could do.

Neha is a biology teacher from Rajasthan.

Another young protester, 20-year-old Delhi........

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