The organisers of the march — the CJP and activist Sonam Wangchuk – had repeatedly called for a peaceful protest; by early afternoon, however, the protest had degenerated into violence, and pitched street battles were being fought at many places.

There was heavy brickbatting at several locations including Connaught Place, where police vehicles were vandalised.

CJP protesters clashes with Delhi Police; several cops injured (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

Injured protesters, some of whom had broken bones and cracked skulls, were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital. Four protesters were admitted to the ICU at RML. Until 5.30 pm, emergency teams at RML had attended to around 100 people injured in the protests, hospital sources said.

Among those treated at RML were at least 10 police personnel as well. Police said more than 100 of its personnel had suffered injuries in the clashes with the protesters. North Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Raja Banthia sustained injuries to his hand and leg while supervising law and order arrangements, police sources said.

The protest spread organically and horizontally, largely without visible leaders or direction, and at one point reached close to the perimeter wall of Parliament. The gates of the building were shut, and no one, including Members of Parliament, staff, and the media were allowed to enter or exit.

Sources in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) told The Indian Express that they had failed to correctly estimate the size of the crowd. They had expected about 5,000 protesters, but the actual number turned out to be almost 10 times bigger.

Nadda met CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka even as security forces wielded batons and fired tear gas at the protesters, some of whom had reached just a few metres away from Parliament. (Credits: X/ @SauravDassss)

For Delhi Police, the inaccurate assessment of the numbers and determination of the protesters recalled a similar misjudgment from more than five years ago, when hundreds of farmers had stormed the Red Fort complex on Republic Day in 2021.

While the Jantar Mantar area can hold at most 3,000 people, almost 5,000 had gathered at the protest site on Sunday evening itself, and their numbers had continued to swell through the night and on Monday morning.

Late in the afternoon, as the street violence continued in Connaught Place and the area around Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, police moved into the Jantar Mantar protest site and dismantled the stage that had been occupied by the CJP for the past three weeks.

Protest in support of Cockroach Janta Party at B. R. Ambedkar’s Statue near Pune District Collectorate. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre)

By evening, however, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and his associates, as well as Gitanjali J Angmo, the wife of Sonam Wangchuk, had returned to Jantar Mantar. Pictures posted on X by the CJP late on Monday night appeared to show a sizable crowd building up at the new protest site near Kerala House. However, the streets around the New Delhi district had largely emptied out.

Wangchuk, who was taken away by police from the protest site on Saturday morning, issued a statement from Safdarjung hospital, saying that he would continue his fast until the youth leaders were allowed to meet MPs in Parliament, or MPs met him in hospital.

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters raise slogans during a protest march, at Connaught Place, in New Delhi. (PTI)

During the day, CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka met Union Health Minister J P Nadda at his residence and conveyed their demands, including the removal of Education Minister Pradhan. The protesters want Pradhan to take responsibility for the leak of the May 3 NEET-UG question paper.

The CJP leaders posted on X that Nadda had assured them that their demands would be discussed at the “appropriate level”. In the evening, Nadda posted on X that “for the first time, a proposal [had come] from the protesters to hold talks with the government”, and the meeting had been held “in a cordial atmosphere”.

Protesters at the CJP-led march to Parliament. (Express photo: Praveen Khanna)

Opposition leaders criticised the handling of the protest by the government. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the “most anti-youth” PM in the country’s history. Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav condemned the police action against protesting students at Jantar Mantar, calling it a “black day for democracy”.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court asked Safdarjung hospital to file an affidavit with laboratory reports on Sonam Wangchuk’s health on an appeal by his wife Gitanjali Angmo against a single judge’s order refusing to allow him to be moved to a private hospital.

The court said it would pronounce its decision on Angmo’s plea on Tuesday.

The protest shut down central Delhi for hours. Traffic crawled, commuters complained of long travel times, and several Metro stations were shut temporarily.