With questions mounting as to why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is not actively supporting activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike amid the ongoing CJP protests, Jignesh Mevani mentioned how the party has been organizing protests in parallel and raising issues related to examination irregularities, jobs, agriculture, etc.
“Rahul Gandhi’s way of standing with people is remembered on the streets, even if the media forgets sometimes. Despite losing his father and grandmother to violence, he has walked over 4,000 km in the Bharat Guddu Yatra knowing the threats to his life,” Mevani, the working president of the Congress unit in Gujarat, wrote on X on Tuesday.
He said that workers of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress and the Youth Congress were protesting on the streets against the paper leak scams. “They faced brutal water cannons, lathi attacks, and serious injuries. In Haryana’s Kurukshetra, MP Deepinder Singh Hooda @Dipinder Shoda led from the front. In Madhya Pradesh, Jitu Patwari Jitu Patwari and countless senior leaders and cadres were severely injured,” Mevani wrote, noting that all this was “ignored” by the media and platforms.
Read also: ‘Apolitical’ cockroach protests pit absent Rahul against indifferent Modi government as Wangchuk’s health deteriorates
The Congress leader’s remarks came in response to singer-lyricist Swanand Kirkire who questioned the Congress for not starting a hunger strike like Wangchuk.
“The protesters seem to be fighting for a legitimate cause. They are not demanding something abstract like Jan Lokpal. The students are real, and their grievances feel real,” Kerkir wrote on X.
Amid criticism of Rahul for not reaching out to the Wayanad landslide victims or throwing his weight behind the RJD protests, Mevani mentioned several awareness initiatives he has undertaken. He said Rahul launched ‘Chhatron Ki Gunj’, calling it a “major nationwide campaign in 28 cities” against examination irregularities. “This is a Congress that walks with young people every step of the way,” he wrote.
Read also: A Chinese passport, religious books and an artificial intelligence device were found with a US citizen arrested near the Nepal border
He said Rahul interacted with students who were exposed to the NEET paper leak scam, met families of students “affected by the system”, met Mohammed Deepak, the gym coach who defended a Muslim shopkeeper, and consoled the landslides in Wayanad “like his own landslides”.
Meanwhile, Wangchuk in an interview with Indian Express He said it would be “trivial” for opposition parties not to participate in the youth-led protests. He also said that people will reject the opposition, including the Congress, if they fail to show support for the protest that began with the Sarsour Janta Party’s call over NEET exam irregularities.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which has not spoken about any possible talks between the RJD and the government, has found a separate opportunity to corner Rahul Gandhi – over his absence from Wayanad, one of the two Lok Sabha constituencies it won in the 2024 parliamentary elections and which is now represented by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. While he retained the seat of Amethi, the traditional stronghold of his family, he handed Wayanad over to his sister.
Since the two were not seen in Wayanad, the BJP made a poetic jibe at Rahul through the lyrics of famous Bollywood movie songs: “Chithhi na koi sandesh, jaane wo kaun sa desh, jahaan tum chale gaye (No letter, no letter, who knows the country I went to).”
