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India's Protests for Education Reform Also Take Up One Piece's Jolly Roger, Other Anime Symbols

India's youth have been taking to the streets to demand reforms in the education sector and the Jolly Roger flag of the One Piece manga has become a symbol of resistance for the movement led by youth group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Much like the Gen Z protesters in Nepal who flew the Straw Hat Pirates' Jolly Roger while protesting corruption in the national government in 2025, these youth movements have adopted the iconic pop culture symbol for the liberation of the oppressed. Some protesters in India have even likened their movement to that of Nepal's.

Educator, engineer, and activist Sonam Wangchuk began his 26-day hunger strike on June 28 in solidarity with CJP's protest in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi's designated protest site. After weeks of police crackdowns on peaceful protesters, representatives of the central government met with Wangchuk to discuss the movement's demands on Friday. Meanwhile, independent news organizations such as the News Laundry verified the legitimacy of police brutality allegations by protesters that the Delhi Police had been publicly denying. Assemblies across the country saw protesters cosplaying as historical figures and even pop culture characters like those from Attack on Titan. Indian folk metal band Bloodywood, which has collaborated and toured with BABYMETAL, also took to the streets to provide protesters with drinking water and other essentials.

Initially agreeing to two of the three demands laid out in Wangchuk's letter, the government fulfilled the third demand on Saturday as Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

The on-ground protests are not the only place otaku culture has shown up. On May 28, 19-year-old cybersecurity researcher Nisarga Adhikary hacked the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) website and uploaded the music video based on the song "Bad Apple!!" from the Touhou Gensōkyō ~ Lotus Land Story video game. After exposing the lax security on the government portal, the C3iHub, the institute's cybersecurity hub, contractually hired Adhikary as a threat intelligence engineer.

The Jolly Roger was first seen during protests in Indonesia in August 2025. Reports at the time noted that the protests came from frustrations with "numerous controversial policy changes since President Prabowo Subianto began his term as president." The most recent change that sparked the protests was "a revision to Indonesia's National Armed Forces Act, which would allow military officers to also serve as members of the civilian government without resigning from their military position."

The flag also flew in protests in the Philippines and France last year. The Straits Times reported in September 2025 that the flag appeared during anti-corruption protests at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, and during protests against President Emmanuel Macron and planned spending cuts in France.

Sources: BBC (Geeta Pandey, Yogita Limaye), The Print (Harsh Tiwari)