India’s Modi says he forgives students who abused him in Cockroach protests

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he forgives students who hurled expletives at him during protests last month, describing them as “misled children” who must be shown “the right path” rather than be prosecuted and punished.

The biggest political crisis of Modi’s third term was caused by growing support for the youth-led Cockroach protest movement, which emerged in May after a crucial exam was voided after the questions were leaked, forcing more than two million students to resit the exam the following month.
The Cockroach Janta Party – as the protesters called themselves after the chief justice of the Supreme Court described unemployed youths and activists as “cockroaches” – was initially a social media campaign calling for educational reform via viral memes. But it morphed into a mass movement mobilising tens of thousands of supporters in capital New Delhi and inspired similar protests in cities across India.

The protests eventually ended after the Modi government agreed to all the protesters’ demands, including the resignation of the education minister, and pledged not to pursue criminal cases against any demonstrators.

But despite Modi’s assurances, the authorities in states ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party filed cases against hundreds of protesters after some clashed with security forces and shouted abusive slogans about the prime minister.

Supporters of Modi’s far-right Hindu nationalist politics have doxed female protesters, including teenagers, on social media, hurling rape and death threats at them, and demanding the local authorities take criminal action against them.
“These are misled children. Showing them the right path is our duty. Punishing them, making them run around courts, or tormenting them in society will not change the situation,” Modi said in a video posted on social media late on Friday, adding that “disgusting expletives” were targeted at him and his late mother at the protest.

“It is a cultural shock to us that how can our daughters use this language,” he said, before adding: “I want to forgive them.”“These are misled children. Showing them the right path is our duty. Punishing them, making them run around courts, or tormenting them in society will not change the situation,” Modi said in a video posted on social media late on Friday, adding that “disgusting expletives” were targeted at him and his late mother at the protest.

“It is a cultural shock to us that how can our daughters use this language,” he said, before adding: “I want to forgive them.”