Cong to hold nationwide candlelight marches today; students hell-bent on Pradhan’s resignation
New Delhi: The agitation against the NEET paper leak swept several states in India on Friday, a day after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called for nationwide demonstrations, with protesters condemning the Delhi Police crackdown on July 20 and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
With the protest intensifying across states, the Congress directed its state units to organise a candlelight march and ‘satyagraha’ in each district on Saturday evening to protest against “irregularities in the NEET and CBSE examinations and the subsequent repressive actions by the Modi government”.
In Maharashtra’s Mumbai, thousands of protesters gathered in Dadar under the banner of Shiv Sena (UBT), with party leader Aaditya Thackeray stating that he has urged CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke not to return to Maharashtra until the demands are met.
Holding tricolours and placards in their hands, thousands of students and activists gathered at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in the Dadar area as part of a ‘Tiranga Morcha’ organised by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).
In neighbouring Pune, protesters, including students, braved heavy rains as they took out a march demanding the resignation of Pradhan and denouncing the lathi-charge by Delhi Police on demonstrators.
In Nagpur, the mother of a NEET aspirant who allegedly committed suicide in May addressed a protest event and sought the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pradhan. In Kolkata, the protest turned violent as clashes broke out between members of the Left students’ organisations and police personnel during a protest, prompting security forces to baton-charge and fire tear gas shells to disperse the agitators, a senior officer said.
The protestors blocked the Dorina Crossing area in the Esplanade and hurled footwear and water bottles at the men in uniform.
The police were seen having a tough time trying to remove the agitators from the intersection of vital thoroughfares on a working day.
Till reports last received, the police had not managed to disperse the crowd from the region despite resorting to a mild lathi charge and even firing some tear gas shells.
Several parts of Karnataka witnessed protests and counter-protests over the NEET question paper leak, with police detaining protesters, preventing rival groups from clashing and stepping up security at multiple locations. Student groups, Dalit organisations, Youth Congress activists and civil society groups held protests over the alleged NEET irregularities and the reported police action against students in Delhi. In Chandigarh and Kaithal, the youths were joined by farmers and activists in the demonstration against Delhi Police’s crackdown on protestors and seeking Pradhan’s resignation.
Carrying placards with slogans like ‘Take Responsibility, Save Students’, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Raise Your Voice’ and ‘Please Save My Future’, the protesters expressed solidarity with the youths agitating in the national capital.
The protestors gathered at Hanuman Vitak Park and then took out a procession to the District Mini Secretariat.
The lawyers from the Kaithal Bar Association also staged a ‘dharna’ outside the Bar Room.
In South, several educational institutions observed a ‘bandh’ in Telangana and Andhra following a call by Left-affiliated students. The BRS also held protests seeking the resignation of Pradhan.
SFI, AISF, PDSU and other Left-backed students took part in the bandh. The shutdown was successful across the state, the All India Students’ Federation said.
In Kerala, the Youth Congress activists held a protest march in Kollam in support of the CJP and student agitation in Delhi regarding the alleged irregularities in the NEET and various other exams held at the national level.
In Tamil Nadu, protests against NEET continued, with hundreds of students taking part, demanding the scrapping of the national-level screening test and resignation of Pradhan.
The round-the-clock sit-in at the Balan Illam, which commenced on a small scale, gained momentum, leading to over 500 people, including film personalities, taking part in it. They even made a vain attempt to take a march to the Lok Bhavan in Guindy, but were prevented by the police.
