Treatment of students panic reaction: Rahul Gandhi on crackdown

New Delhi: A day after the Congress held a dramatic march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence over the police crackdown on protesting students, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said the party stood with the students’ movement, demanded Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, action against those accused of assaulting protesters and an apology from Prime Minister Modi.

“There comes a time when a government psychologically collapses. That’s what has happened. The Modi government is in a state of panic. What the government is doing to the students is a panic reaction,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“How I was treated is irrelevant to me. I don’t care. The focus has to be on what was done to the students, the education system, the paper leaks and the cost these children have been forced to pay,” he said.

Gandhi also claimed that some of the police personnel who detained him privately expressed frustration with the ruling dispensation.

“The policemen who were dragging me away were whispering in my ear, ‘Remove this government’,” he said.

At the press conference, Rahul Gandhi also said it was his responsibility as Leader of the Opposition to give voice to the concerns of ordinary people.

“My job is to express the will of India’s people. Whether it is the will of the students, the young people, or the farmers… I am supposed to become an expression of the voice of India’s people. I am supposed to bring attention to pain that is being felt,” he said.

Defending the Congress’ decision to take the protest to the streets, Gandhi said the Opposition had first sought a discussion on the issue inside Parliament.

“We felt that if the students of the country are on the streets, the Opposition should also be on the streets. Before going to the Prime Minister’s residence, we met the Speaker and requested him to allow a discussion on the issue. He said he would speak to the government, but nothing happened and the issue was ignored,” Gandhi said.

He said the students’ demands were “completely legitimate” and listed three key demands: The resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, accountability for those who allegedly assaulted students during the protests, and an apology from the Prime Minister.

Rahul Gandhi also alleged that the BJP had “destroyed” the country’s education system, claiming there had been 152 paper leaks affecting 7.5 crore students, with “not a single person” punished.

Rahul Gandhi also linked the education crisis to unemployment, arguing that opportunities outside government jobs had shrunk over the years.

“Manufacturing has been destroyed, entrepreneurship has been destroyed, corporate jobs have disappeared and the public sector has been weakened. The only door left open is government jobs, but even that system is rigged,” he alleged, claiming recruitment was plagued by corruption and favouritism.

Calling higher education unaffordable, Rahul Gandhi said students and their families collectively spend on a single NEET examination an amount comparable to the Union government’s education budget.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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