India’s 'Cockroach' movement ends protests after education minister resigns

Let's bring you some other news now. India's youth protesters have agreed to end protests after talks with the government. It follows the resignation of India's education minister after weeks of demonstrations that demanded his removal. This over alleged leaks in some of the country's most competitive entrance exams that caused an outrage among students. Called the cockroach movement, it started as a call for education reforms but has grown into a broader protest over unemployment, government accountability and economic opportunities. Let's get more on that with our correspondent Sarah Jacobs standing by for us. Sarah, so we have an announcement from the government spokesperson and the spokesperson of the cockroach movement. How did this agreement come about? Well, the big story right now coming out of India after over 20 days of protests, the cockroach janta party, the student protesters, have called off their protest after all of their demands were agreed to by the Modi government. In a press conference that took place just a little while ago, seated alongside central ministers, union ministers of the Modi government, the leadership of the cockroach janta party said that this decision was arrived at with the Modi leadership after an agreement that the terms would be implemented within an agreed upon time frame. The cockroach janta party or the cockroaches as the protesters call themselves had three main demands. Their first major demand which they were refusing to budge on that the education minister take responsibility for what transpired on his watch and step down took place this afternoon. Early on Saturday afternoon, the education minister sent in his resignation letter to Prime Minister Modi. The other two main demands are that compensation be given to the families of those 21 students who lost their lives by suicide after that crucial medical examination, the NEET exam paper was leaked. And thirdly, very importantly, the cockroaches are very insistent that no legal action, no jail time, no action be followed up against those protesters who have been protesting peacefully over the last three weeks. And all of the demands were agreed to in principle by the Modi government and they have now called off their protest. And Sarah, help us understand just the significance of this movement. I mean, just the very fact that it took place under Modi's government, of course, I mean, he really didn't see this coming, did he? Absolutely. I don't think anybody saw this coming. This is an unprecedented victory for the student protesters in a country where over the last 10 years, any sign of dissent has been brutally stamped out by the Modi government that has used all of the state machinery at its disposal to stub out any any voice of its critics. Prime Minister Modi is seen internationally and this is an image that has been built up by his party and a portrayal that has been built up by his party that he is a strong man who is extremely popular. He is, after all, a three-time prime minister. All of this is true. But for the first time over the last week, we have seen in India something that would have been unthinkable even a year ago. We have seen young people in India of no political affiliation walking the streets in the national capital openly holding up posters, making memes that are critical of Prime Minister Modi. That would really have been unthinkable for most. Over the past week, what we've also seen is a change at the protest site where initially many of the slogans were anti the education minister. Over the last week, after the brutal police crackdown last Monday, all of these slogans began to be directed against the prime minister directly. And for the first time people are speaking up, saying that the fear of speaking up against this government has gone. Yeah, it's indeed been quite incredible to watch. Sarah Jacob, thank you very much indeed for now.