Actor Amol Parashar says he joined CJP protest, saw youngsters bleeding: ‘Cried myself to sleep’

‘I was at Jantar Mantar on July 20’

Parashar began his note with, “I was at Jantar Mantar on 20th July, 2026. A day I will never forget.”

He then explained that for several days he had been unable to ignore an urge to be present at the protest.

“There was a deep itch within me for the last 3-4 days which I just couldn’t shake off. Being brought up in a middle class Indian household the value and importance of education is not lost on me. A fair and competent system to support young talent being an important part of nation building and society building, is not lost on me.”

The actor added that messages shared by students in the days leading up to the protest, filled with “love, respect and hope”, repeatedly moved him to tears.

‘I didn’t want it to be about me’

Parashar said he deliberately chose not to announce his presence or turn it into a public appearance.

“I just wanted to be there for these young kids, stand with them, stand among them – as nothing but a fellow citizen. I did not want to be recognised, I didn’t want any stage or camera, didn’t want to make a speech or reel, because I didn’t want it to be about me. I wanted to listen to them.”

Even though a few protesters recognised him despite his mask, sunglasses and cap, he said they respected his privacy.

“A few of them still recognised me even with the mask, sunglasses and cap (I don’t know how) but they just smiled and shook my hands, gave me fist bumps, thanked me (I don’t know for what) completely respecting my choice of privacy.”

Reflecting on the interaction, he added, “Who taught them these manners? Must be some foreign influence because the previous generations hardly knew these things.”

‘What did I see?’

Recalling the hours before the police action, Parashar described an atmosphere filled with optimism rather than anger.

“The night before I saw groups of young people with dreams and hopes in their eyes, smiling, singing songs, asking questions, holding each other’s hands through the heavy crowd.”

He said what stood out to him most was the conduct of the protesters. Despite the large crowd, he claimed there was no misbehaviour.

“Having grown up in Delhi, I know the reputation that place has for safety of women. But in spite of a crowd tightly packed shoulder to shoulder, there was not a single moment of misbehaviour or unruliness, not a single bad touch.”

He also noticed young people quietly taking responsibility for one another.

“In a country where people hardly clean up after themselves, these young people decided to take responsibility for other people as well. Made no noise about it, just took accountability, assumed responsibility and quietly went about this selfless task.”

Parashar recalled seeing strangers fan people who looked exhausted in the humid weather.

“If you looked slightly hot or uncomfortable (it was humid af), some stranger would suddenly appear out of nowhere and start fanning you.”

Addressing those who dismissed the students as being influenced by outsiders, he wrote sarcastically, “Who taught them this mutual respect? Must be some foreign influence, because our previous generations only taught us to look out for ourselves in this dog-eat-dog world.”

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‘They were not all NEET aspirants’

Parashar also said that there were students from all fields, colleges ans streams.

“They were not all NEET aspirants. That’s true. Most of them were from other fields of study, various colleges, streams, courses so I was pretty sure if I asked them the full form of NEET, some would stumble. Some were too young or too old to be directly affected by NEET.”

“What was their motivation to be there then? Which foreign influence was making them care about other people who they didn’t know personally? Which foreign influence is trying to make sure that exams are fair in our country and our elected leaders are accountable to the public?”

He argued that education is not only about acquiring knowledge but also about developing independent thought.

“As much as education is about knowledge and skill, it is also about critical and independent thinking. Even personally, the latter things I have had to develop myself, our formal education lacking those aspects. Now we are taking away knowledge and skill from the game too. So what book are they reading that is teaching them all this? Must be some foreign propaganda.”

‘And then suddenly, dark clouds descended’

Parashar said everything changed once the police action began.

“And then suddenly, dark clouds descended on their world. The state decided that it had had enough of these foreign influenced children and decided to break their heads, so these ideas could escape from the hole in their skull.”

He described seeing injured students and friends trying to help one another.

“Young people bleeding on the road, their friends crying for help. Some just shocked and in disbelief, asking the cops ‘hum aapke bacche nahi hain kya?’. They came asking for better education, they left with a harsh lesson: no one cares about you.”

‘I cried myself to sleep’

The actor admitted the experience haunted him long after he returned home. “I cried myself to sleep last night. Thinking about those who must have reached home with broken limbs and spirit, finally with network on their phones, and opened it to see that they had been called Pakistanis, paid agents, Chinese agents, foreign hands by their own fellow countrymen.”

Parashar said that, for him, the emotional helplessness was even worse than the effects of tear gas.

“Yesterday I learnt what is worse than the intense burning of eyes and the terrible taste of tear gas in your throat. The state of helplessness you feel when you see evil unfold right in front of your eyes, and you can do nothing to stop it.”

He questioned what such experiences could do to the country’s youth.

“What is the future of a state that makes its youth feel so small, so humiliated, so insignificant. Like a pest being crushed and swatted away.”

‘To all the young people…’

Ending the note with a heartfelt message, Parashar said he wished he could personally comfort every student who had been at the protest.

“I wish I could hug each one of you and tell you that you are loved, you are cherished, you are appreciated. Hold each other’s hands, respect each other, comfort each other if needed, clean up after yourself, clean up after other people, don’t be ashamed to ask for your rights, never stop appealing for humanity.”

The actor concluded by saying the students had renewed his faith in kindness and civic responsibility, even amid one of the most difficult days he had witnessed.

The protest, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and educator Sonam Wangchuk, demands the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET-UG question paper leak earlier this year. On July 20, protesters marched towards Parliament as part of the Chalo Sansad campaign, drawing support from several public figures, including Shabana Azmi, Prakash Raj, Hanumankind and Amol Parashar.