Claiming that the country was facing not just a fiscal deficit but also a trust deficit, activist Sonam Wangchuk, while participating in the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)’s first protest at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Sunday (June 14, 2026), called on the government to be accountable and to ensure a free press. “Otherwise, please declare that India is no longer a democracy. It has become a totalitarian country,” he said. 

The protest saw massive participation despite the steady rain. Among those who joined the protest were actor Prakash Raj, actor Kiran Srinivas, and filmmakers Senani Hegde and Krupakar B.S.  

“I have a dream that Sonam Wangchuk should have been our Education Minister,” Mr. Raj said, prompting protesters to raise slogans that the Education Minister should be like him. 

Responding to the slogans, Mr. Wangchuk said the Education Minister should indeed be like him, but not be him. “I am not here for power or position. I am here for a cause, against a rotten system,” he said. 

Addressing the protesters, he said that if committing a crime was a crime, then tolerating it was equally a crime. “The more I searched about the CJP movement, the more I found it to be pure, which is why I am here,” he said.  

He said the recent irregularities in NEET and CBSE examinations were not merely isolated failures but symptoms of a deeper problem. “The problem is the system. The system is broken,” he said. “It is not that we are measuring 900 ml of milk as one litre. It is not the measuring jar that is wrong. The milk itself is rotten. It is mixed with water. Nobody is seeing that,” he said. 

“The education system is so rotten that it makes me doubt whether it will lead us anywhere. NEET, JEE, UPSC -- you might become a doctor, but what if you go on to issue fake certificates to criminals? I am worried not just about school examinations, but what happens beyond them when one enters the real world,” he said. “My doubt is about a system that rewards people for being corrupt and immoral. The air itself needs to change,” Mr. Wangchuk said. 

Recalling his experiences over the past year, he said he had met young IAS officers who had once dreamt of changing and serving the country. “They were at gunpoint, made to write and declare that Sonam Wangchuk is an anti-national. There was one IAS officer who did this,” he alleged. 

“We must question the political system that forces young minds into such situations,” he said, adding that people should not have to live in fear. “If people have to live in fear, they might as well have been born in China. At least the trains would have been faster,” he said. 

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the CJP, said there were lakhs of students who could have become doctors in the future and gone on to save lives, but ended up losing their own. “I don’t think there can be anything more shameful than this for the country. We are a better nation than that,” he said.

“Every election, every year, they (the BJP-led union government) try to divide us using the Hindu-Muslim narrative. The first thing people think of themselves as today is either a Hindu or a Muslim. We need to remember that we are firstly and lastly Indians,” he said, requesting people to reject communal politics. “Let’s promise at this protest that we will fight communal forces,” he said.

Mr. Dipke said that people should not have to fear arrest for speaking up. Recalling his return from the United States, he said his mother had asked him not to come back to India because she feared he might be arrested. “If we have to go to jail, we will go to jail, but we will go for freedom. We will keep fighting and we will never stop speaking up. I will be first one to go jail,” he said.

Actor Prakash Raj, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “Our Prime Minister has got a Master’s in entire Political Science. He must have struggled while writing examinations. He must have seen the politics of seniors. He must know the pain of examination paper leaks. He must know the politics of the education system. Then, why are you silent, educated Prime Minister?” 

“I am here because the youth of this country is fighting. I am here because the youth of this country is saying we are not afraid. I am here because this is not a political party. But I am here because this is the right politics,” he added. 

He said the youth had decided to fight for their future, dreams and aspirations. “The youth of the country is telling the uncles and aunties who are ruining this country after retirement age to move away. We, the youngsters, are fighting for our future. They are not doing mandir-masjid politics,” he said. 

“These youngsters are not afraid if you call them urban naxalites. They are not afraid if you call them Pakistanis or terrorists or cockroaches,” he said, adding that they (youth) are telling you that cockroaches have lived longer than dinosaurs and they will outlive you.