By Rahil Nora Chopra
As youth protests over exam paper leaks continue all over the country, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, along with fellow INDIA bloc MPs, staged a demonstration at Gandhi Smriti and paid homage to students who died by suicide over the recent paper leaks. Rahul Gandhi was seen in his iconic white T-shirt holding the national flag and the Constitution, while other MPs held up their mobile flashlights as a symbolic candlelight vigil, carrying placards on paper leaks, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Maintaining that the country’s students were not alone, Rahul said that the entire INDIA bloc stood firmly with the protesting students and supported their demands. The march came amid a larger political confrontation between the Centre and Opposition parties over irregularities in the NEET examination and the police action on student protesters, an issue that has repeatedly disrupted Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon Session.
DIMPLE YADAV WINS HEARTS AT ONGOING JANTAR MANTAR PROTESTS
Samajwadi Party (SP) Lok Sabha member and party president Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav’s calm display of compassion and courage during Cockroach Janata Party-led protest in Delhi has caught the imagination of the people at large. Videos showing Dimple trying to jump police barricades and help injured students went viral on social media, along with the visuals of draconian police action during the protest march to Parliament, that demanded Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. In the video, Dimple was seen asking one of her party supporters to fetch water for an injured youth who lay on the road and helped him by opening one of the buttons of his shirt to relieve him as to make him breathe. On July 16, she travelled from Lucknow to Delhi as part of a Samajwadi Party delegation to meet climate activist Sonam Wangchuk at Jantar Mantar, where she had expressed solidarity with the protesting students. Dimple’s assertive appearance at Jantar Mantar now showcases that SP is preparing her for a much larger organisational role.
PAPER LEAK: THACKERAY COUSINS DECLARE JOINT RALLY ON JULY 26
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray have declared a joint morcha on July 26 to highlight the concerns of students and their parents over police crackdown on protesters during Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest march over NEET paper leak controversy. Addressing a joint press conference, the Thackeray cousins said the march would start from Shivaji Park and end at Siddhivinayak temple. They said the participants would carry only the national tricolour and have appealed to students, parents and citizens across political affiliations to mark their presence by joining the rally. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the Centre had allowed the agitation to escalate by refusing to engage with students and criticised the reported police action against protesters in Delhi.
PAWAR, SULE PRESENT MODI WITH MEMORANDUM ON AGRARIAN CRISIS
Amid repeated speculation over the Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), party chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter and MP Surpiya Sule met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a memorandum highlighting Maharashtra’s agrarian crisis. The meeting comes in the backdrop of government’s efforts to muster up a two-thirds support in Parliament for the Delimitation Bill that the Centre plans to bring again in the ongoing Monsoon Session. NCP (SP)’s eight MPs are key to government’s Parliament strategy. The NCP had earlier signalled that it may support the bill if the government gave a written assurance on the 50% seat increase across the board. Both Pawar and Sule had earlier joined the protestors at Jantar Mantar where the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is continuing its protest against the NEET-UG paper leak. The party has extended its support to the call for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. Pawar urged the Centre to sensitively consider the demands and take necessary action. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the NCP (SP) officially commented on any political discussions during the meeting. The party maintained that the primary purpose of the meeting was to raise issues affecting farmers and discuss concerns related to the ongoing student protests. (IPA Service)
