Protest demonstrations by the internet created non-political group Cockroach Janata Party formed in May 2026, demanding the resignation of the Education Minister for tests to admissions in professional colleges that began in New Delhi in June 2026, was joined-in by the organized students from different political parties of the opposition included hunger strikes by two persons were ended forcibly by the Delhi police on July 20, resulting in a confrontation with the police, who  shot pellet guns to stop the students’ march to the parliament, injuring many protestors. The Education Minister was forced to resign, but the youth anger remained due to the job crisis for the youth in India. On August 19, an Indian Express newspaper published an investigative report that said electoral rolls were changed by the Election Commission of India decertifying 130 million voters nationwide, resulting in many large demonstrations of the combined opposition. While the official data shows an economic growth above 7 percent average and reduction in extreme poverty, during PM Modi’s 12 year rule, there is a growing disconnect between headline-data and lived reality in society. There is a steady, sustained transfer of wealth from the poor & middle class to the very rich upper 3 percent population.

57 year old Rajesh Mahapatra is a journalist, who held the position of the executive editor for Hindustan Times and as the Business writer for South Asia for Associated Press. A native of Odisha province, Rajesh studied at Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He holds an M.Phil in Economics, with specialisation in political economy, public finance and development studies. He founded the Odisha Dialogues, a non-partisan thought leadership forum focussed on research and advocacy relating to socio-economic development of Odisha. He was also the founding editor of The Secretariat, a public policy focussed news portal. Currently, he is an Editorial Advisor at BasisPoint Insight – an economy and finance focussed B2B digital publication. He advises news organisations on digital transformation and routinely contributes to the broader discourse on public policy through his newspaper articles and audio-visual commentaries. He lives in New Delhi.