Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 23: With the student protesters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) intensifying their agitation against the paper leak and alleged police brutalities giving a call for nation-wide protest on Friday, the Opposition’s protests have also gained strength in the heart of Delhi with the Congress and INDIA bloc MPs staging a demonstration at Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Marg in support of the students on Thursday.
The demonstration led by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, who was seen in his iconic white t-shirt holding the national flag and the Constitution, and other MPs holding up their mobile flashlights as a symbolic candlelight vigil, marked stepping up he attack on the Centre for its treatment of the student protesters during their “Chalo Sansad” march to Parliament House on Monday.
Barricades were earlier set up outside Gandhi’s house after the Opposition MPs reached there for a meeting on Thursday afternoon. Soon after the meeting ended, the Congress leader announced their plan to visit Gandhi Smriti, less than a kilometre away. Three buses then carrying Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other lawmakers reached Gandhi Smriti.
“We came here symbolically to take the pledge that we will stand with students and for the right cause,” Congress leader KC Venugopal said. Rahul Gandhi had earlier said their Gandhi Smriti visit was to remember the students who were driven to take their own lives after the NEET paper leak and in support of the students injured in police action.
“Right now, MPs and leaders of the INDIA alliance are peacefully heading to Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Marg. We go to remember the students we lost – the children driven to take their own lives after the NEET paper leak. We go to stand with the students who lie injured today – beaten for peacefully demanding justice and accountability,” he said.
He later told reporters that their initial plan to visit India Gate was turned down by the police, and then their bus was initially blocked from leaving for Gandhi Smriti but was later allowed. “No one can stop us from standing with the students of India,” he wrote in a post alongside a video of himself from inside one of the buses.
The Congress had been demanding, among other things, the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, with the Gandhi siblings being detained during a demonstration outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence two days ago. The police had also put up some barricades on the Sunehri Bagh Road, but they were removed later and the MPs were allowed to go.
As the CJP continued its protest at the Jantar Mantar, the Delhi Police has clarified that it has no plan of a crackdown at the protest site. This comes after former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that security personnel could take such steps against the protesters.
However, internet services remained suspended till midnight in the 1.5 km radius of Jantar Mantar. The latest order extended the suspension of the services till midnight on Thursday with the approval of the Union Home Secretary under the Telecommunication Act, 2023 and the Telecommunications (Temporary Suspension of Services) Rules, 2024 in the interest of “public safety and averting public emergency.”
Amidst the opposition protest, the CJP founder leader Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept Mr Pradhan’s resignation, warning that the protests would escalate if the demand was ignored.
Addressing the media in Delhi, Dipke said the agitation would no longer remain limited to seeking Pradhan’s resignation if the Centre failed to act. “Modi ji, I once again request you to accept Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. Otherwise, the issue will not remain limited to Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation alone; it will come for your resignation also,” he said.
Tight security measures continued at the Jantar Mantar with a contingent of police deployed at the site, a day after tensions escalated again amid the ongoing protest. As many as 16 metro stations were closed from 7.30 am till further instructions, DMRC said on Thursday. These include Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House, Central Secretariat and Supreme Court metro stations. The DMRC a day earlier too shut 16 metro stations.
Meanwhile, the fasting activist Sonam Wangchuk has claimed that union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met him and assured him that the government would “positively consider” a Parliament discussion to ensure accountability over paper leaks, including the resignation of the education minister. He said the government had assured it would also consider adequate compensation for the families of students who died by suicide following the alleged NEET paper leak.
However, Wangchuk said he would end his hunger strike only if the government gave an “unequivocal assurance” that no student or protester who participated in the anti-NEET movement would face punitive or retaliatory legal action.
While the government underscored its willingness to hold a discussion on paper leaks in Parliament, the Opposition demanded the resignation of union education minister Pradhan. “There will be no discussion on the issue till the education minister resigns…It cannot be a fair discussion till he resigns,” Congress chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said.
The opposition MPs, meanwhile, held protests wearing black clothes against the government on Parliament premises while the government accused the Opposition of politicising the ongoing student’s stir and said it was shifting “goalposts,” asserting that its doors for dialogue with those leading the protests were “always open.”