What began as a protest at Jantar Mantar against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak over a month ago snowballed into a nationwide agitation on Thursday (July 23, 2026), with student outfits, civil society groups and political parties hitting the streets and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while criticising the police crackdown on protesters in Delhi.
In Chennai, the protests sought the scrapping of NEET. Amid the ongoing agitation by the Cockroach Janta Party-Tamil Nadu and the All India Student Federation (AISF) at the Communist Party of India office, the Neelam Student Movement also organised a demonstration. The Democratic Youth Federation of India, the Student Federation of India (SFI), and over 500 students of New College at Royapettah in the heart of the city joined the cause.
Across Kerala, the SFI took out protest marches that turned confrontational in several districts as police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Marches were held in Kochi, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur, while protesters clashed with police in Kasaragod and faced water cannon in Palakkad and Kannur.
‘Chalo Lok Bhavan’
The “Chalo Lok Bhavan” protest organised by student/youth organisations in Andhra Pradesh turned tense after the police stopped them midway. They said Friday’s proposed educational institutions’ bandh would be intensified and the agitation would continue in phases until the Education Minister resigned.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, Bhim Army activists tried to march towards the Governor’s residence, clashed with the police when stopped, and were detained. The Sanyukt Chhatra Manch organised a march in Prayagraj, leading to a brief face-off with the police. Protests were also held in Ghazipur, Varanasi, Ballia, and Azamgarh.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s Chandigarh unit extended support to activist Sonam Wangchuk and demanded Mr. Pradhan’s resignation. The party workers and social activists in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, criticised the police action in Delhi.
Besides, the student agitation in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore gathered momentum as more students, teachers and parents joined in solidarity with the Delhi protests, leading to a heavy police deployment. Student groups expressed their grievances in Bhopal. Hundreds of working professionals, organisations such as the Dalit Sangharsha Samithi and the All India Students’ Association (AISA), gathered in Karnataka’s Bengaluru to voice their anguish.
The Delhi protests also resonated in the northeastern States. In Assam, students’ organisations, including the All Assam Students’ Union, the All Assam Minority Students’ Union, and the All Assam Tribal Students’ Union came together. Students, activists, and political leaders in Guwahati sought education reforms, where the protest was organised under the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). Rallies were taken out in Arunachal Pradesh’s Itanagar, Shillong in Meghalaya, and Mizoram’s Aizawl. Meanwhile, the BJP Assam unit organised a counter-protest in Guwahati against the Congress’s sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi.
Several cases
In Bihar, the police lodged several cases against over 600 unidentified protesters for vandalising public properties and Wednesday’s protest march in which several police personnel were injured. Over 40 students were detained in Patna.
Security personnel resorted to baton charge against stone-pelters in Katihar and Begusarai. Protests were also organised in Bhagalpur and Darbhanga districts, and marches taken out in Patna, Munger, Sheikhpura and Vaishali. In Patna, members of AISA and the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) extended support to those gathered at Jantar Mantar.
The Jan Sangharsh Manch Haryana and the Students’ Organisation for Socialist Democracy activists took to the streets in Haryana’s Kurukshetra. Leaders of all major Khap Panchayats in the district came together and in Jind, the district bar association suspended work for a day in support.
Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur saw the police booking nearly a dozen Congress workers under non-bailable provisions.
The Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) youth wing staged a demonstration in Odisha, where all the Opposition parties have intensified their agitation along with students’ outfits. In Maharashtra, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) House witnessed chaotic scenes as Opposition parties demanded a discussion on the police action against agitators in Delhi. Various students’ wings, such as AISA and SFI, organised rallies in several localities of Kolkata.
Published – July 24, 2026 12:51 am IST
