Over the past week – as the youth-led mass struggle against corruption and unemployment in India grew in size and strength – comrades of the Revolutionary Communist Party attended and helped organise solidarity demonstrations across Britain.
The Cockroach Janta Party, which initially began a few weeks ago as a satirical meme, managed to mobilise hundreds of thousands, and has forced the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
This is a huge victory for the youth, given that this is only the second time a minister has resigned from Narendra Modi’s BJP government in twelve years.
Below, we publish reports from the on ground – from London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Cardiff. Everywhere, we found an open and positive reception to our solidarity greetings, as well as our perspectives for the struggle.
In a number of places, our comrades gave speeches drawing lessons from the Gen Z revolutionary wave; highlighting the need to continue mobilising and broadening the movement after this first concession; and pointing the finger squarely at the capitalist system, which lies at the root of all the problems facing Indian – and British – youth.
Although some layers felt like the struggle was now finished given that the immediate demands have been won, another layer expressed that the fight is only getting started, and that the BJP government and their police thugs cannot be trusted whatsoever.
We say: For young people to live, capitalism must die! Cockroaches of the world, unite! Inquilab Zindabad!
London: Cockroaches of the world, unite!
On Sunday, 27 July, RCP comrades attended a demonstration at Trafalgar Square, organised by the Students’ Federation of India in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party-led student movement.
About 400 people turned up and stayed for three hours in the July heat. Of them, some were workers; many were students; some were organised activists, including Greta Thunberg; many were new to political life.
Throughout the demo, chants of “Inquilab zindabad!” (“Long live the revolution!”) and other slogans rang through the square.
The resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan greatly enthused everyone. The appetite for struggle, as we say, comes with eating.
As many who were interviewed pointed out, this is only the second time that a sitting cabinet minister had resigned since Modi’s BJP took power in 2014. This is a stunning victory. But as a placard held by one protestor said, “Don’t get complacent.”
Many recognised that the resignation of Pradhan was only the beginning. Shivani, a worker in London, said that this “felt like the beginning of something big”, while Muhammad, a nurse, expressed that “this is the beginning of the downfall of the dictatorship.”
As one student from QMUL in East London explained, the replacement of Pradhan was an empty gesture. The new minister, Pralhad Joshi, is also a BJP minister, and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindutva paramilitary group. It is clear that many were not satisfied with one resignation.
I delivered a speech drawing on the lessons from the recent revolutions across Asia, including in Indonesia and Bangladesh. The mention of these neighbouring movements received many whoops and cheers, showing the growing international solidarity among the youth.
My speech highlighted that, after Modi’s concession, we need to press the advantage: “Why should we put any trust in the talks the government is having with the students… When has the government ever told the truth? We cannot stop the protests until the demands are achieved.”
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A student spoke to us afterwards and mentioned that the speech stood out as no one else was speaking about that point. He said that, because the CJP has compromised, the protests ongoing in other cities are isolated, while still being harassed by the police.
I also emphasised that the youth in Bangladesh overthrew Sheikh Hasina because they appealed to the working class of the country. In the same way, the youth in India must spread their movement to the farmers and workers also suffering under Modi’s rule.
When we interviewed protestors, many agreed that the struggle should continue, but were unsure about its next steps, much less its end goal.
Some were thinking only about educational reforms. A fair number wanted the movement to continue until the ousting of Modi and the BJP, and agreed that the struggle must be broadened.
We at the RCP believe that the way forward for the Gen Z movement is to link up with the workers and farmers, and not stop until the overthrow of the Modi regime!
Farid, London
Birmingham: Communists help organise India solidarity demo
In Birmingham, a spontaneous demonstration in solidarity with India took place on Saturday
One comrade found out about this demo through a group chat which had over 100 members. Unlike other places, where demos were organised by SFI, this was an entirely independent initiative by students politicised by recent events and wanting to contribute to the movement.
Having never organised a demo before, a number of students asked our comrade for advice. They suggested preparing chants and speeches, getting our hands on megaphones and signs, and most importantly spreading the word of the demo as much as possible.
We arrived as the demo began, introducing ourselves to the organisers and offering our help – and megaphones. The organisers asked one of our comrades to lead the chanting.
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We made a speech celebrating the strength that the movement has revealed, and expressing the need to expand the movement, including to the Indian working class.
At the demo’s peak, there were around 50 people present. Later the organisers told us that many decided to not show up, saying “What is the point of the demo? The demands are achieved, it’s over”.
Those who did turn up were therefore those who wanted the movement to continue, had no illusions in the Indian state, and were looking for a way forward.
The vast majority of people we spoke with agreed that the movement in India must continue mobilising to meet its demands. Several people drew more advanced conclusions, with one person telling us: “The thing with Gen Z movements is we need someone to lead us”.
Following our lead, some attendees gave spontaneous speeches on the struggle in Kashmir, the struggle of Indian farmers, alongside the crisis in education. For many, it was their first time participating in a demo.
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The organisers thanked us for help at the end, saying: “Thanks to the RCP for giving support and organising, this wouldn’t have happened without RCP help”.
After the demo we continued chatting to people hanging around and passersby. We also talked to the organisers, who agreed to stay in touch and invite us to future events. One organiser enthusiastically bought our pamphlet The Crimes of British Imperialism. We also sold five copies of The Communist, and met three people interested in joining the RCP.
KT, Birmingham
Liverpool: “Victory is fuel, not the finish line”
On Sunday 26 July, around 25 people, including comrades from the Liverpool RCP, gathered in Liverpool city centre to stand in solidarity with the youth-led movement sweeping across India.
The demonstration condemned the Modi government’s violent repression of protesters, and extended support for the fight for Indians’ democratic rights.
The increasing pressure of the student movement led Dharmendra Pradhan to resign the day before the demo. But protests in India and internationally have not come to a complete halt.
Speakers at the Liverpool demonstration stressed that this small victory is only the beginning while carrying signs that spelt, “Victory is fuel, not the finish line.”
All of the young Indians in attendance emphasised the international nature of this struggle, and thanked us for coming. As one speaker said, “Don’t ignore struggle anywhere, because it will come to our doorsteps any day, and there will be no one left to speak up.”
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I spoke about the need not only to overthrow this or that minister or government, but to fight for a sweeping systemic change: “It doesn’t matter if the people in charge change when the entire system is rotten… so whoever is in charge, this is going to be the symptom of it”.
Our perspective that the students needed to ramp up the struggle – to continue mobilising and organising – was very well received. The Communist also went down very well, with three copies sold, and a number of people leaving their details with us.
Liverpool RCP member Alfie Baguley linked the brutal state repression in India to examples of police brutality and corruption worldwide, including here in Britain. He pointed out that we – workers and youth – can only trust in our own strength to protect ourselves. This was also met with widespread approval.
Speakers also expressed that fear and disillusionment cultivated by the Indian state runs so deep that many Indians abroad remain reluctant to attend demonstrations or speak against injustice.
This demonstration reflected the growing anger and political consciousness of India’s youth, who are tired of decades of corrupt governments and are discovering their collective voice.
Sai Shraddha, Liverpool
Leeds: Youth keen to continue the fight
On Sunday 26 July, 10 RCP comrades intervened in the Student Federation of India (SFI) demonstration in Leeds solidarity with India’s student movement. There were around 70 people there in total including ourselves.
To build support for the demo, we posted a reel explaining the situation in India, and calling on people to turn out. It went viral and currently sits at over 190,000 views! This was very well received by the local SFI branch.
We also produced a leaflet to express our solidarity, and to put forward our perspective for the next steps for the movement. We prepared chants and speeches, but unfortunately the SFI national leadership mandated that only Indians and Indian organisations could speak at these rallies.
Nevertheless, we had some great conversations with the youth at the demo about the next steps for the movement now that Pradhan had resigned. Our ideas and chants were received very well.
When the demo began properly, the actual speeches and chants were very mixed in content. More radical chants and speeches received a better response.
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The general next steps outlined in the speeches was that we must keep the movement going, by forcing the home secretary to resign over the police brutality, and calling for reform of the education system.
The general position of the SFI can be summed up with their own explanation: the state is supposed to serve the people; it no longer does; therefore it needs fixing.
Everyone we spoke to seemed genuinely open to hearing the way forward.
For example, one person we spoke with from Kerala told us that they supported the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but after some discussion they told us that the CPI(M) had failed the masses of India by not fighting to break with capitalism.
Another attendee said that they had been inspired by the Bangladeshi movement in 2024, but felt that something like that wasn’t possible in India right now. But minutes later, they agreed with us that we need to get rid of capitalism, and that there is no future under this system!
Despite the Cockroach Janta Party leadership calling for an end to the demonstrations, everyone we spoke to at the solidarity demo in Leeds was keen on continuing the struggle. They saw the resignation of Pradhan as only the beginning.
Leeds Communists
Cardiff: Communists get a good reception
Last Thursday, comrades from the Cardiff RCP joined a 60-strong solidarity demonstration in support of the Cockroach Janta Party in India.
Tens of thousands of youth had taken to the streets in India after a cock-up by the Education Ministry which saw the exam paper leaked, and their results nullified. This only scratches the surface of the tens of millions of graduates unable to find jobs.
This feels all too familiar for British youth, with one million currently not in education, training or employment. The crisis of capitalism is snatching away our futures globally.
Called at short notice, the organisers were expecting perhaps 15 attendees. But by the end of the demonstration, around 60 people were there in support. For many, it was their first ever demonstration and they had come after only having seen a social media post.
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Many attendees we spoke with had drawn very radical conclusions, and wanted to sweep away not just the Education Minister, but the whole government.
One woman approached us and said “I want to join the communists”. When a comrade responded, “Yes, that’s us!”, she replied: “Like, revolutionary communists, right?”.
We were offered the chance to speak to the crowd. We said that no trust could be put in the authorities – they were doing everything in their power to crush the movement violently.
We also pointed out that the youth should look to the lessons of Bangladesh: in their ‘Gen Z revolution’, Modi’s pal Hasina was overthrown when the youth called on the working class to join the movement.
In India, we also see our own future. The ‘Cockroaches’ are showing young workers across the world the way forward! Inquilab zindabad! Workers and youth of the world, unite!
Cardiff Communists
