'Cockroaches' Claim a Second Scalp? BCI Chairman Manan Mishra Faces Accountability Push After NALSAR Row

New Delhi- A protest movement that forced the resignation of India's Education Minister last month has turned its attention to a new target: Rajya Sabha MP and Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, after a botched order barring an entire graduating law class from enrolling as advocates. CJP Chief Spokesperson Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and founder Abhijeet Dipke framed the episode as part of a larger pattern that demands accountability.

The latest controversy began on August 13, when BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra issued a circular directing every State Bar Council to withhold enrollment from NALSAR University of Law's 2026 graduating batch. The trigger: a group of outgoing students had petitioned the university not to invite Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to their convocation, after remarks he made suggesting the court lacked time to review footage of police action against protesters at Jantar Mantar. Mishra's original order argued that students who disrespected the country's highest judicial office could not be trusted to become responsible members of the legal profession, and asked NALSAR to identify everyone involved in organizing the campaign. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke took a jab on the order, in a social media post: What if all legal cockroaches come together?

The backlash was immediate. Within hours, the BCI walked the order back, stating that a review found the "vast majority" of the 2026 batch had no involvement in the campaign and were free to enroll wherever they chose. Then, in the early hours of August 14, Mishra went further, announcing on social media that the entire matter was closed. He said, "After considering the representations and reactions of Senior Advocates, learned members of the Bar, law students and public spirited citizens, and being satisfied that the 2026 batch of NALSAR, Hyderabad, had no role in any disturbance or movement, the Bar Council of India has decided to close the proceedings altogether. No further action is required."

The rapid rollback of the order failed to contain the damage. CJP continued its online campaign demanding accountability. In a subsequent post, Abhijeet Dipke alleged that the entire episode amounted to “Repaying the debt for the Rajya Sabha seat.” Saurav Das reinforced the demand, stating: “The need for accountability is a must. The Bar Council has been led by him since 2012 and will be till 2030. That’s atrociously long, especially when seen in the context of REPEATED misuse of powers.”

Accountability Push Against Mishra

The reversal did not end the controversy, it has redirected it toward Mishra himself. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das, raised broader questions about the BCI chairman's fourteen-year tenure, which began in 2012 and is set to continue until 2030. Das has publicly called for the council's finances and conduct to be scrutinized, pointing to BCI's own disclosed figures showing roughly ₹14 crore spent on meetings and conferences in the 2024–25 financial year, of which about ₹12.65 crore went toward travel-related expenditure, figures that match the council's own audited accounts.

Another post by Nagendar Sharma, a lawyer alleged that it as a case of huge conflict of interest as Mishra runs a law university in Goa through a trust set up by BCI and is setting up one more such university in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. "It is a clear attempt to undermine and diminish highly reputed and public funded NALSAR and to create space in South for his universities that charge over Rs 10 lakh per annum per student", the post read.

Education observer Maheshwar Peri joins the criticism

Entrepreneur and veteran education observer Maheshwar Peri also issued a scathing statement against Mishra. He wrote that after decades of watching Indian education, he found the BCI Chairman’s conduct “disgusting and reprehensible.” Peri said an institution meant to safeguard law students was being run “less like regulation and more like retribution,” calling the decision to bar an entire graduating batch “vengeful, silly and idiotic” and an act of bullying rather than regulation.

He noted that a Council member had already termed the order “manifestly arbitrary,” and criticised the rapid withdrawal as the action of a “coward.” Peri further accused Mishra of branding dissenting students as “misled” by “foreign adversaries,” issuing sweeping directives driven by personal temperament rather than deliberation, and functioning in a manner unfit for a statutory body. He concluded by calling Mishra “incapable, incompetent and a traitor for legal education in India” and demanded that he “Resign. NOW.”

CJP leaders have framed the current demand as a logical extension of the movement that began with the question “What if all cockroaches unite?” and culminated in Pradhan’s resignation on 25 July. That resignation came after 36 days of continuous protest at Jantar Mantar, a hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk, and widespread youth mobilisation over examination irregularities. The government accepted the resignation and met certain other demands, after which CJP called off the sit-in. This time, after the NALSAR row, Dipke posed another question: What if all legal cockroaches come together?

Abhijeet Dipke and Saurav Das have repeatedly used the same language of accountability: “isteefa do”- that defined the earlier campaign.

Background: The Cockroach Movement

The Cockroach Janta Party emerged in May 2026 as a satirical youth movement, its name a rebuke to CJI's remark likening India's young people to "cockroaches" and "parasites." What began online grew into weeks of street protests at Jantar Mantar and a march toward Parliament in June, driven by anger over repeated leaks in national entrance and recruitment exams affecting millions of students.

The protests intensified after police detained activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was on hunger strike in solidarity with students, and after a violent crackdown on demonstrators attempting to march on Parliament. On July 25, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he respected the "aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations" of the country's youth. CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka declared that the movement's core demands- Pradhan's exit, compensation for families of students who died by suicide over exam cancellations, and no punitive action against protesters had been met, and called off the agitation. The resignation was widely described by analysts as a major blow to Prime Minister Modi's government, twelve years into its rule.