New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party protest at Jantar Mantar is showing no signs of losing steam. 

Dismissed by many as a temporary flash in a Gen Z pan, it has now weathered over two weeks on the ground, and has received support from many quarters, including from the Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra and Sagarika Ghose, Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Brinda Karat and M.A. Baby, Communist Party of India’s Annie Raja, and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation’s Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Human rights lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Colin Gonsalves have also expressed solidarity as has author Arundhati Roy. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Sanjay Singh has promised to take up the Cockroaches’ demand in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. Members of student bodies Students Federation of India and All India Students’ Association have also been supporting the Cockroaches since day one. 

Sonam Wangchuk is not the only one on hunger strike here. Fasting a short distance away from the stage under a tarpaulin are a number of students who say they will not eat or drink till education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned. 

Swatantra Singh, a final year undergraduate from Prayagraj says:

“I decided to start fasting because even after 11 days of protest the government has not responded. Twenty five young people have died by suicide as a result of the NEET paper leaks, 700 farmers died during the Kisan Andolan [against the central farm laws in 2020-21], what is it going to take for this government to wake........

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