Police outnumbered, taken aback by number of protesters who reached Parliament’s doorstep

Delhi Police and other security personnel were outnumbered and taken aback by thousands of protesters who arrived in and around Jantar Mantar on Monday (July 20, 2026), a senior government official said. In an unprecedented turn of events, despite multiple layers of barricades, deployment of around 3,000 security personnel and an Internet shutdown, large crowds comprising mostly students and young people were able to reach the doorsteps of Parliament before they were tear-gassed and charged with batons.

The “leaderless” protesters faced little resistance from police as they marched from Jantar Mantar towards Raisina Marg, which leads to Parliament, The Hindu witnessed. All radials leading to Parliament were teeming with protesters who brought down the barricades as they marched on, with the police using buses to block their movement, just 100 metres from the Parliament complex where the first day of the Monsoon session commenced on Monday (July 20).

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The crowd had gathered based on a call given by the online youth group, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), to march to Parliament demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the recent NEET(UG) examination leak. The forcible removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk from the dais at Jantar Mantar where he had been sitting on a hunger strike for 20 days, in an early morning operation on July 18, likely gave a fillip to the protest as hundreds of people started pouring in in solidarity.

Swelling protest

On Sunday (July 19) evening, after intelligence sources conveyed to the government that the numbers were growing at the protest site, the Union government through Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Sachin Sharma reached out to the CJP members for the first time. “The DCP approached us first on Sunday (July 19) evening, offering a meeting with the district magistrate. After we declined, this morning they offered talks with Minister of State (Independent Charge) and subsequently a Union Secretary. When we refused, the DCP asked us what we want to do. We said a delegation will meet a Union Cabinet Minister. Then they asked us to give a list of names of possible Ministers and that is how Health Minister J.P. Nadda met us,” said Saurav Das of the CJP.

Seeing the intensity of the protests and as the protesters reached Parliament, the Union government deputed Health Minister Mr. Nadda to engage with members of the CJP. Posting on X after the meeting, the Minister said: “This morning, for the first time, a proposal came from the protesters to hold talks with the government, and our discussions have been ongoing since 11.50 a.m. The meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere. An initial verbal discussion was held in detail with their delegation and they submitted a written petition around 4 p.m. I have requested all those protesting to end their sit-in and assist the administration in restoring normalcy.”

Within Parliament too, senior Ministers of the NDA government went into a huddle with one meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan lasting nearly three-and-a-half hours. No briefing was done post the meeting but it is assumed that issues with regard to the leak of NEET question papers and the resulting protests were discussed.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal too met with Mr. Shah for a short time, but it is not clear whether it was on the same issue.

A government official told The Hindu that clear directions were given to the police to not use force against the protesters. However, when they broke barricades and marched towards Parliament, police personnel first fired tear gas shells as warning shots and then batoncharged them, injuring several protesters and police officials.

The official added that a large number of people were mobilised to the venue by political parties such as Chandrashekhar Azaad’s Azaad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), Aam Aadmi Party, and the Samajwadi Party.

A large number of protesters came from outside Delhi, particularly the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan, the official said.

Nitish, a police aspirant, who arrived from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh on Monday (July 20) morning said: “Government should be held accountable for the paper leaks.” When asked how he could reach so close to Parliament and whether he was stopped by the police, Mr. Nitish said, “After the first barricade was breached, we just walked, no one stopped us.”