The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has taken on another high profile resignation demand, this time for Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra. The development comes less than a month after the group celebrated the resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after sustained protests.
On Thursday, August 20, lawyers gathered outside the BCI headquarters in New Delhi seeking Mishra’s resignation. The protest was organized by the All India Young Advocates Association and backed by the CJP leaders.
Why is Manan Mishra’s protest going on
The immediate controversy is around the BCI's intervention in the enrolment of the 2026 graduating batch of NALSAR University of Law. The BCI had asked State Bar Councils not to enrol the university's graduating law students as advocates, following a dispute that resulted in some students' opposition to the invitation to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for their convocation.
The decision was criticized by legal experts and students’ rights and freedom to dissent were raised. The controversial directive was subsequently withdrawn.
Mishra later apologized to law students in an Independence Day message saying that he regretted any words or communication that had hurt their feelings. He also said that regret should not be seen as an issue of prestige or ego.
Why is CJP supporting the protest
CJP leaders have positioned themselves alongside the lawyers demanding accountability from the BCI leadership. Saurav Das and other CJP co-convenors backed the protest, Abhijeet Dipke appealed to “legal cockroaches” to join the agitation.
The move follows the group's earlier campaign against Dharmendra Pradhan. That campaign ended with Pradhan’s resignation in July, which CJP supporters described as a major victory.
So the latest protest is a substantial shift from an education-based political campaign to an issue involving India’s legal regulatory system.
Pressure Builds on BCI Leadership
The resignation demand is not limited to CJP-backed activists. The Bombay Bar Association has also attacked Mishra’s handling of the NALSAR controversy and contended that he should have resigned, calling the controversial communication an abuse of power.
And Mishra is still chief of BCI, and the controversy is still on the minds of lawyers, students and activists. And the episode also raises a larger question of how regulators can respond to institutional decisions that conflict with student activism and freedom of expression.
With CJP now backing another resignation protest after its earlier success against Pradhan, in the coming days will we see if its pressure-based protest strategy can be further expanded.
