The Opposition on Monday sharply criticised the police action against protesters during the Cockroach Janta Party’s march towards Parliament in Delhi, calling Narendra Modi “the most anti-youth prime minister in India’s history”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Modi had failed to act against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan despite repeated allegations of irregularities in competitive examinations.
Gandhi claimed that about 7.5 crore students had been affected by question paper leaks, and alleged that those responsible had not been punished while students raising “legitimate questions” were met with “batons and detention”.
“This government isn’t just failing the youth–it's cracking down on them,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
For several days, thousands of protesters had been demonstrating at the national capital’s Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.
The Cockroach Janta Party had planned a march to Parliament on Monday, coinciding with the start of the Monsoon Session. While police stopped the protest leaders from proceeding, some demonstrators moved closer to Parliament and gathered at other locations in central Delhi. Security personnel later fired tear gas shells at and lathi-charged protesters during the demonstration, Scroll reported.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said students protesting against paper leaks at Jantar Mantar had been subjected to a lathi-charge and accused the Modi government of trying to suppress the voice of the youth.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government should review its policies and shortcomings instead of “wielding lathis on children”.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot also condemned the use of lathis and tear gas, saying it “is completely wrong”.
“Instead of suppressing the students’ voices, their concerns should be addressed,” Pilot said.
Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she strongly condemned “the police brutality unleashed on our youth and students in Delhi today”.
The Trinamool Congress chief questioned why a government would fear its own students.
“Dissent is not a crime,” Banerjee said. “Brutality is not governance.”
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who visited Jantar Mantar on Monday morning, said she was shocked by the security deployment and accused the police of cracking down on unarmed students.
Calling the Centre a “satanic government”, she said the Delhi Police should “hang their heads in shame” for cracking down on “poor defenceless kids”.
The Aam Aadmi Party also criticised the police action. Party chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that instead of fixing the education and examination system, the government had “declared war” on the country’s youth.
“The youth will by no means tolerate Modi ji’s arrogance,” he added.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that “when a brutal regime points guns towards young Indians who are asking for a better education system, you know that the regime is anti- India”.
He said the world will see that “India is no longer a democracy but captured by a regime”.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi condemned the lathi-charge on students participating in the march to Parliament and said the Union government had chosen “brute force over dialogue”.
The Samajwadi Party condemned the detention of its MPs, including Dimple Yadav, who had gone to Jantar Mantar to meet the protesters.
It added that “the lathi charge on students is highly condemnable and undemocratic”.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of choosing repression over democracy and said the use of lathi-charge, tear gas, barricades and metro closures marked a “confession of the BJP government’s fear”.
Bhim Army chief and Lok Sabha MP Chandrashekhar Azad asserted that “those who set out on the path of truth are not bowed down, the voice of truth is never suppressed by batons”.
Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
Watch: Young protesters in Delhi face police lathi-charge and tear gas
Also read: How the ‘cockroaches’ at the Jantar Mantar sit-in are keeping themselves busy
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