By Saurabh Sharma, Aftab Ahmed, Tanvi Mehta and YP Rajesh
NEW DELHI, July 24 (Reuters) - Leaders of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement began talks with the government on Friday to try and resolve a face-off over national examination paper leaks although they will not halt nationwide protests, a spokesperson for the group said.
The talks between two senior government ministers and two leaders of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at the Constitution Club near parliament came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike overnight.
The meeting has raised hopes that the two sides could be moving toward a breakthrough in the crisis in which tens of thousands of angry youth have converged on the capital Delhi to demand the resignation of the education minister over the paper leaks scandal.
The protests represent the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014. Opposition parties have echoed the movement's demands and have disrupted the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.
"We hope that the government comes with an open mind and it will listen to the people of this country who have been out on the roads for so long," CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said late on Thursday night. "We will explain our demands to them in greater detail. And we hope that the government will listen to us."
The two sides had held a preliminary round of talks on Monday and the government had said it would consider the demands of the protesters.
The nationwide protests would, however, continue, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Friday.
"This is now a mass movement. The CJP will continue its protest until (Education Minister Dharmendra) Pradhan resigns," he told reporters. "This is the only solution to bring this to an end."
PROTESTERS INSIST ON RESIGNATION OF EDUCATION MINISTER
There was no new comment from the government on the talks but a senior minister said on Thursday that the government was always open for talks, for however long it would take and that it would not "stand on prestige".
Young men and women at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, however, said they would continue to insist on the resignation of Pradhan to fix accountability for the mess in the national examinations.
"We will continue to protest till Dharmendra Pradhan is terminated," said Sudesh Singh, as thousands of protesters chanted slogans and the size of the crowd grew slowly. "He should not be given another position. If we stop here, then we will compromise the future of our children."
The protests by the CJP began as an online satire and involved only a few hundred young people when they were first launched. But it grew to pull in millions of online followers when a national medical college entrance test was cancelled after it was held in May because the question paper was leaked earlier, affecting about 2 million students.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the movement marched on parliament in violation of a ban on Monday and clashed with police when they were pushed back with tear gas and beaten with batons.
Violence was reported again on Wednesday night when more than 10,000 protesters gathered at the protest site in central Delhi.
The movement's surge in popularity reflects frustrations among young Indians over issues such as job shortages, as well as frequent exam leaks, analysts say and warn that the government should effectively address the crisis.
DELHI METRO SHUTS STATIONS, MOBILE INTERNET DISRUPTED
On Thursday, authorities shut 16 metro stations, mobile internet services and curtailed business in central Delhi where the protesters have been camped - seen as an attempt to curb the demonstrations - inconveniencing thousands of people.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corp said it was shutting down 17 stations again from early on Friday morning until further instructions, the third time this week it has resorted to such a large-scale closure of the system which is the lifeline of the capital.
Mobile internet services in the area were disrupted again on Friday morning, with Reuters journalists reporting patchy or no connectivity.
The government had extended the mobile internet shutdown until midnight on Friday, two industry sources told Reuters.
The federal cabinet will meet on Friday and discuss a draft to amend laws to punish culprits behind exam paper leaks and get it approved by parliament at the earliest, Modi said late on Thursday.
But the protesters have rejected the proposal saying the examination system should be fixed to prevent leaks in the first place.
Youth-led, street protests in neighbouring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have brought down governments in recent years and Modi’s government should go beyond words to engage with protesters and address their anxieties, analysts say.
Although national elections are due only by April 2029, key states like the most populous, Uttar Pradesh, run by Modi's party, his home state of Gujarat, and Punjab, vote next year and anti-government sentiment could have an impact, they warn.
The movement has also seen a sharp spike in invective, online criticism, jokes and memes targeting Modi, a nationalist leader with a large, popular following. This indicates less fear of Modi, whose supporters quickly, often angrily, spring to his defence, analysts say.
(Reporting by YP Rajesh, Tanvi Mehta, Saurabh Sharma, Shanima A, Anushree Fadnavis, Aftab Ahmed, Bhawika Chhabra, Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
