Modi promises free exam coaching and AI training after 'cockroach' youth protests force minister out

Independence Day address

Modi spoke from the ramparts of the 17th-century Red Fort in New Delhi on August 15, marking India's 79th Independence Day. In a speech lasting more than an hour, the 75-year-old prime minister outlined a seven-point growth and reform framework focused on manufacturing, agriculture, technology, defense, tourism, and handicrafts, aimed at making India a developed country by 2047, the centenary of independence. He said India had transformed from a "fragile" economy into the world's fastest-growing major economy over the past decade and reaffirmed his goal of turning the country into a developed nation by 2047.

Youth outreach after 'cockroach' protests

The address came weeks after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) drew hundreds of thousands of young Indians to the streets in the world's most populous country. The movement began as a satirical social media campaign earlier in 2026 after India's chief justice described unemployed youth as cockroaches, then grew into a broad platform protesting exam paper leaks and recruitment irregularities. The protests were ignited by a scandal involving a leaked medical entrance exam. Demonstrations spread across Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Mumbai, with police in Delhi firing tear gas and baton-charging protesters. The "Azadi" song from the Bollywood film Gully Boy became the anthem of the protests, a word that a decade ago was among the most criminalized slogans in Delhi, for which student leaders were jailed for treason.

The protests forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, described as the biggest challenge to Modi's government since it came to power in 2014. Modi did not directly mention the protests but announced free online coaching for competitive exams and AI skills training for 10 million young people over the next year. He said the coaching would let students prepare from home and ease the financial burden on families.

“The competition surrounding coaching classes has become a huge burden for middle-class families.”

“Every parent feels that if they do not send their child to a coaching centre, they are somehow falling behind or do not belong to a respectable family.”

His administration has also backed tougher legal penalties for exam leaks and established a panel to review the examination system. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, nearly 40 percent of graduates aged 20 to 24 are unemployed in India.

Warning against 'intellectual Naxals'

Modi declared that India's decades-long Maoist insurgency, which began in 1967 in the village of Naxalbari in eastern India and left thousands of civilians, rebels, and security personnel dead over nearly 60 years, was nearing its end. He said the Maoist movement had "destroyed the future" of generations of young people and credited his government's security and development policies with sharply reducing Maoist violence since taking office in 2014.

However, he warned of a new threat from what he called "dimagi Naxals," or intellectual Naxals, saying they sought to create violence and unrest.

“We have succeeded in getting rid of armed Naxals in the jungles, but 'dimagi Naxals' (intellectual Naxals) are looking for opportunities to create violence and unrest. They have to be identified and isolated.”

The phrase echoes the politically charged label "urban Naxal," previously used by Modi and leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party for activists, academics, and government critics. Rights groups have for years accused India's government of using anti-terror laws, sedition-related provisions, and foreign-funding rules to squeeze civil society and target critics.

Infrastructure and economic pledges

Modi announced that India would have eight more semiconductor chip plants in the coming years and five nuclear reactors generating 100 gigawatts of power by 2047. He said India's youth would be "fully harnessed in nation-building" under his Viksit Bharat (Developed India) ambition to turn the country into a developed economy by the centenary of its independence.