Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday sought the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded accountability of the policemen who assaulted students in the national capital on Monday, calling these demands “non-negotiable” to resolve the ongoing crisis on the streets and in Parliament.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Gandhi claimed that since the BJP-led NDA came to power in 2014, there have been 152 leaked papers affecting 75 million students. He also claimed that the protests caused panic in the government.
Read also | Congress and allies take NEET protest to PM’s doorstep; Rahul Gandhi arrested: Modi will not be able to escape
The protest, launched by the Cockroach Janta Party, after the NEET medical entrance exam paper was leaked, gained momentum with activist Sonam Wangchuk launching an indefinite fast, and snowballed into a full-fledged movement over the weekend after the government hospitalized Wangchuk, clashing hard at a protest march to Parliament on Monday.
To be sure, some protesters indulged in acts of vandalism, targeting media personnel and police, but police and Rapid Action Force personnel used lathes, tear gas and electric batons to control the crowd. A number of policemen, RAF personnel and students were injured.
Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday spoke about the failure of NEET for the first time in a meeting with NDA partners according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. The Prime Minister said that he was with the students and that the government would take action against those responsible for the leak. A retest has since been conducted and the results announced.
Opposition parties joined the protests.
Pradhan should resign and the Prime Minister should apologise: Gandhi
During the press conference, Gandhi said that it is fair that students have demands. “It is a legitimate demand that Dharmendra Pradhan resign. He has shown the nation and the world that he cannot run an education system,” Gandhi said. “He is also incompetent and perhaps complicit in this drama. We know his background. We know how clean he is. This man has to go.”
The Congress leader also spoke about police repression. “Everyone who attacked the students must be held accountable, and the Prime Minister must apologise.”
Gandhi’s position may complicate ongoing negotiations between the government and opposition managers on how to discuss the issue in Parliament. Hizb ut Tahrir learned that some opposition parties were keen to start the discussion without any preconditions.
“How the discussion will take place, cannot be decided by the government alone. We will decide that. Pradhan must go and the Prime Minister must apologise. These are the first steps. Then we want to see changes made in the system,” Gandhi said.
Read also | Rahul Gandhi says Dharmendra Pradhan is ‘unable’ to be education minister; The Justice and Development Party was not mentioned in the speech
On protest, police action
On Monday, a 23-day hunger strike in Jantar Mantar turned into the largest public protest of Modi’s third term, with tens of thousands of people marching to Parliament, braving police batons, tear gas and dozens of barricades. The brutal police crackdown on students has turned into another major controversy, with the opposition demanding action against erring officers.
Gandhi himself sat out a large protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence before police dragged him away and arrested him at the Chhatrasal Stadium in north Delhi. Some other legislators, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were arrested at Mandir Marg police station.
“Inko hatai” prompt.
During the press conference, Gandhi claimed that the policemen who pulled him away from the protest site at a busy intersection near the Prime Minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg asked him to dismiss the government.
“One of them was from Rajasthan. The other belonged to Haryana. They whispered to me, ‘Enku hatai’ (remove this government). Rational people don’t support this. They can see their children in this. We will continue to support this. The deeper problem is with the government. The main issue is jobs and we are heading into the storm. When we feel the impact of the Iran war, we will see the pain.”
Read also | The government responds to Rahul Gandhi’s claim that more than 150 papers were leaked, and raises questions about “selective anger”
“The focus must remain on the children.”
Justifying the protest outside the Prime Minister’s House, a high-security zone, the former Congress president said, “We went to the Prime Minister’s House because if Indian students are on the roads, the opposition must also go. Our natural domain is Parliament. We met the Speaker and urged him to hold a debate. He said, I have to ask the government.”
“We fully support the students. My job is to express the will of the people of India. Whether they are students or farmers, I am supposed to become the voice of the people and draw attention to where the pain is felt. It is an honor for me to stand with my people,” he said, claiming that it did not matter how the police treated him. “The focus must remain on the children.”
