Rahul Gandhi calls India's education system 'rigged,' puts forth three core student demands

Written By: DW

Updated: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 (18:02 IST)

India's main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, sought to amplify students' demands that he said are "demands which we are backing," while speaking at a press conference in New Delhi's Indira Bhawan on Wednesday evening.

Gandhi proceeded to list three demands:

• The resignation of Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
• Those who "assaulted students" during the July 20 violent police crackdown on the "Cockroach" youth protest march must be "held accountable" 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi "must apologize to the students"
  

Gandhi alleged that India's education system had become a "rigged" system.

He also claimed that there had been 152 paper leaks in the last year and "zero convictions."

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told lawmakers from his coalition that strong action was taken against those involved in the NEET medical entrance exam paper leaks.

The prime minister was cited as saying at the meeting that 13 people were arrested and jailed after reports of the leaks surfaced. 

What is the status of talks between government and 'Cockroach' protesters?

Cockroach Janta Party Spokesperson Saurav Das said on Wednesday that the protest leaders had turned down an invitation for talks at Health Minister J P Nadda's residence and had asked for the dialogue between the protesters and government to take place at a "neutral ground" instead. 

"Police reached out to us this morning, saying J P Nadda wants to talk to us, so has called us to his home. But we flatly refused, saying that we won't go to anyone's house or office," Das told Indian media reporters.

"The people's court is here, ministers should come among the people," he said.

However, he added that if there were security concerns the meeting could happen at "some neutral place near Jantar Mantar." 

While there was no official statement from Nadda on the talks, The Indian Express cited Nadda earlier as saying that the talks between the protesters and the government were ongoing.

"Talks between CJP and the government are happening and we are always open to take talks forward," The Indian Express quoted Nadda as saying in an interview. 

Nadda, who is the former President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, emerged as the government's main representative during talks with the protesters when the CJP formally handed their demands to him on Monday.